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U.S.S. MISSISSINEWA

(AO-144)

FUELUM NO FOOLUM

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The USS MISSISSINEWA (AO-144), a Neosho-class oiler, was commissioned on 18 JAN 1955. Built by New York Shipbuilding Corp. of Camden, New Jersey, USS MISSISSINEWA took up station at Newport, Rhode Island and served with the Atlantic Fleet after commissioning. In 1956 she shifted homeport to Naples Italy and for the next eight years refueled the US Navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea. Returning to Newport, RI in 1964, she resumed the standard routine of an Atlantic Fleet "Oiler"; fleet support along the East Coast, training and maintenance in preparation for deployment and "MED" cruises on a regular basis. USS MISSISSINEWA served her country for 21 years, 9 months and 28 days, until decommissioned on 15 NOV 1976. USS MISSISSINEWA was transferred to the Military Sealift Command as T-AO-144 after her decommissioning and continued to fuel the fleet with a civilian crew until 1991. The hulk of the MISSISSINEWA was scrapped in 2007.

The USS MISSISSINEWA (AO-144) deployment history and significant events of her service career follow:

AO-144 Deployments - Major Events

Add a AO-144 Shellback Initiation Add a AO-144 Deployment - Major Event
Month Year to Month Year Deployment / Event
MAY1953-Keel Date: 4 MAY 1953
at New York Shipbuilding Camden NJ
JUN1954-Launch Date: 2 JUN 1954
JAN1955-Commissioned: 18 JAN 1955
MAY1956-AUG1957Mediterranean
JAN1960-JUL1960Returned to U.S for new outfitting.
JUL1960-JUL1960Returned to 6th Flt Serv Force and brought aboard 6th Flt Staff
SEP1961-SEP1961John F Kennedy visits Naples
JUL1962-JUL1963Sheldon H. Kinney Capt. USN Commanding Officer
JUL1962-SEP1962Yard overhaul at Bethlehem Steel Hoboken Shipyard NJ
SEP1962-SEP1964Mediterranean Deployment - Service Force Sixth Fleet
SEP1962-SEP1962Guantanamo Bay
JUL1963-JUL1964William J. Maddocks Capt. USN Commanding Officer
JUL1964-JUL1965Thomas Turner Capt. USN Commanding Officer
OCT1964-FEB1965Yard overhaul at Boston Naval Shipyard Charlestown Mass.
JAN1965-JAN1966Mediterranean
FEB1965-APR1965Guantanamo Bay
JUN1965-FEB1966Mediterranean
FEB1966-DEC1966Newport R.I.
JUN1966-Shellback Initiation - 6 JUN 1966 - Atlantic Ocean
APR1967-Shellback Initiation - 4 APR 1967 - Atlantic Ocean
MAY1967-Shellback Initiation - 19 MAY 1967 - Atlantic Ocean
SEP1967-MAR1968Mediterranean
SEP1968-JAN1969Dry Dock
FEB1969-MAR1969Guantanamo Bay
MAR1969-DEC1969Mediterranean
MAR1971-MAY1971Guantanamo Bay
SEP1971-MAR1972Mediterranean
MAY1972-SEP1972South Boston Naval Shipyard Drydock
FEB1973-AUG1973Mediterranean
NOV1974-MAY1975Mediterranean
JAN1975-JAN1975collision with uss saratoga
JUN1975-AUG1975Guantanamo Bay
DEC1975-DEC1975Guantanamo Bay
NOV1976-Decommissioned: 15 NOV 1976
MAR1982-Shellback Initiation - 6 MAR 1982 - Indian Ocean
JAN1983-AUG1983Mediterranean-Indian Ocean

AO-144 General Specifications

Class: Neosho-class oiler

Complement: 324 USNS

Displacement: 11600 tons

Length: 655 feet

Beam: 86 feet

Draft: 35 feet

Final Disposition: Scrapped 2007



USS MISSISSINEWA (AO-144)



The second Mississinewa (AO‑144) was laid down by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., in May 1953; launched 12 June 1954; sponsored by Mrs. Jerauld Wright; and commissioned 18 January 1955, Capt. M. J. Jensen in command.

Mississinewa, second of a class designed to provide fuel, food, stores, and mail services rapidly and for sustained periods to ships at sea, operated primarily along the east coast, with one brief Mediterranean deployment, until 1 May 1956. She then departed her original home port, Newport, for Naples, Italy. With Naples as her home port, the tanker cruised the Mediterranean servicing the 6th Fleet in normal and crisis operations until 1964. During the fall of 1956 and early winter 1957, she supported 6th Fleet ships as they stood by in case they were called on to intervene in the Suez war and the tense period that followed. Again, in mid‑July 1958, she got underway on short notice to provide logistic support to ships of the 6th Fleet during an emergency in the Middle East, this time in Lebanon. Remaining off the Lebanese coast until September, she refueled over 200 ships as the fleet landed marines and then stood by at the request of President Chamoun of Lebanon.

From 1962 to 1964, Mississinewa's responsibilities were increased as she served as flagship of Commander Service Force, 6th Fleet. In that capacity she assumed a larger portion of the implementation of the policy, proven wise in preceding years, of maintaining ships of the 6th Fleet independent of bases on European soil.

Prior to the reassignment of Newport as her home port in September 1964, Mississinewa had returned to the United States only for regularly scheduled yard periods. During those intervals she received new equipment during overhaul, which included in 1957 the installation of a helipad and the assignment of a helicopter for use in vertical replenishment. Since 1964, into 1969, she has operated in the western Atlantic, from Newfoundland to the Caribbean, with regular deployments to the Mediterranean and one, in August 1966, to northern Norway for NATO exercises.

[Note: The above USS MISSISSINEWA (AO-144) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS MISSISSINEWA (AO-144), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]