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U.S.S. TOMBIGBEE
(AOG-11)ALWAYS ON THE GO
Click to view crew list
USS TOMBIGBEE (AOG-11) - a Patapsco-class gasoline tanker
In Commission 1944 to 1949AOG-11 Deployments - Major Events
Add a AOG-11 Shellback Initiation | Add a AOG-11 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
OCT | 1942 | - | Keel Date: 23 OCT 1942 at Cargill Inc. Savage Minnesota | ||
NOV | 1943 | - | Launch Date: 18 NOV 1943 | ||
JUL | 1944 | - | Commissioned: 13 JUL 1944 | ||
JUN | 1953 | - | JUL | 1953 | Middle Pacific |
FEB | 1960 | - | MAR | 1960 | West Pac |
AUG | 1960 | - | AUG | 1961 | Middle Pacific |
AUG | 1960 | - | Shellback Initiation - 10 AUG 1960 - Pacific Ocean | ||
DEC | 1963 | - | Shellback Initiation - 19 DEC 1963 - Pacific Ocean | ||
JAN | 1964 | - | JAN | 1967 | West Pac |
MAY | 1964 | - | OCT | 1964 | West Pac |
JAN | 1967 | - | JAN | 1970 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUN | 1967 | - | JAN | 1968 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JAN | 1969 | - | JAN | 1970 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
JUL | 1972 | - | Decommissioned: 7 JUL 1972 |
AOG-11 General Specifications
Class: Patapsco-class gasoline tanker
Complement: 131 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 1850 tons
Length: 310 feet 9 inches
Beam: 48 feet 6 inches
Draft: 15 feet 8 in
Final Disposition: Sold to Greece 7 July 1972
USS TOMBIGBEE (AOG-11)
Tombigbee (AOG-11) was laid down on 23 October 1942 at Savage, Minn., by Cargill, Inc.; launched
on 18 November 1943; sponsored by
Mrs. F. R. Stoltz; and commissioned
on 13 July 1944 at New Orleans, Lt. Comdr.
A. O. Askland, USNR, in command.
Following shakedown, Tombigbee
departed Galveston on 13 August, bound for the west coast; transited
the Panama Canal en route; and reached San
Diego on the 28th. Pushing on for the western Pacific, the tanker arrived at Pearl Harbor on 4 September, where she paused briefly before proceeding on to Eniwetok,
in the Marshalls, where she joined
Service Squadron 10.
Her tanks filled with
fresh water instead of the oil for
which she was designed, Tombigbee began replenishing the tanks of the ships of the Fleet and
worked out of Guam and Ulithi as she
continued this duty for the remainder
of the year. The ship's first taste of combat
came while she lay anchored at Ulithi on 20 November 1944. A Japanese midget
submarine slipped into the anchorage area and torpedoed the oiler Missis-sinewa (AO-59)
which was anchored less than 1,500 yards
from Tombigbee.
The tanker remained on
the Guam-Ulithi "express" water
supply run through January 1945. On 7 February, while she was steaming
toward Guam, orders rerouted Tombigbee to
Saipan. Subsequently removed to Tinian,
with a full load of water, she supplied water until 19 February, when she joined Task Group (TG) 50.9 and got underway for the Volcano Islands. At 0924
six days later, Tombigbee was detached from the task group and entered the harbor at Iwo Jima. There, the water carrier lay-to and kept put of the line
of fire of the supporting battleships,
cruisers, and destroyers. Rough seas
hampered her water-discharging operations, but the need for fresh water overrode considerations such as the desire to avoid minor hull damages
caused by the ships bumping and scraping each other in the tossing
waves.
After remaining in the Iwo
Jima area until 9 March, the ship
proceeded to Guam where she reloaded her holds with more of her precious liquid cargo. Later in the month, Tombigbee joined the invasion
force heading for the Ryukyus.
On 1 April, Easter Sunday, the day broke cool and slightly overcast-with a calm sea-a perfect day
for an amphibious operation. Tombigbee
arrived off the beaches of Okinawa
at 0545 and steamed to a position on
the eastern side of the island and close to the transport group. As she neared the anchorage, a Japanese
suicide plane-intent on bigger game
than the water carrier-flew past the
tanker's starboard side and crashed
into Hinsdale (APA-120) before that ship could unload her troops.
The next day, Tombigbee shifted her anchorage to Hagushi on the western side of the island. During succeeding weeks, Tombigbee's men saw
numerous suicide planes crash into combat ships and auxiliaries. Meanwhile, they often remained at general quarters up
to 20 hours a day while supplying water to landing craft and amphibious warfare ships. The ship made trips to Kerama Retto and reloads from fleet
tankers that brought water from the Philippines. Tombigbee remained at Okinawa through the end of the war,
and her historian noted that "the
entire harbor went wild" when news arrived that Japan had accepted unconditional surrender terms.
The tanker departed the
Ryukyus on 21 September, bound for
Japanese waters, and, two days later, arrived at Sasebo to participate
in occupation operations. She twice
returned to Okinawa for reloading. By November, Army and Navy doctors judged the water supply around Nagasaki as fit, and the tanker began replenishing her depleted tanks with local water to
supply the ships still on duty in
Japanese ports.
Following this tour of
duty, for which she received the
Navy Occupation Service Medal, Tombigbee supported the ships participating in the atomic bomb testing in the Marshalls at Bikini Atoll, from 1
April to 5 September 1946. During the
assignment, she made periodic trips to Eniwetok for replenishment of
water. Four days after her arrival at Pearl
Harbor on 14 September, the ship
headed for the west coast for an overhaul
which lasted into 1947. Upon her return to the western Pacific, she began conducting local operations in the
Marshalls-at Eniwetok and Kwajalein- which
continued from 13 January to 14 March. Then, following brief repairs at Pearl, Tombigbee was again deployed to the Far East. She operated out of
Guam; Yokosuka, Japan; Pusan and
Jinsen (Inchon), Korea; Tsingtao, China; and Buckner Bay and Naha, Okinawa; as well as at Manila in the Philippine Islands.
The tanker remained in the Far East
until 1 August, when she departed
Tsingtao, bound for Long Beach. After overhaul,
the ship returned to the Orient and touched at familiar ports before heading for the west coast late in the
summer of 1949 for inactivation. On 12 December
1949, Tombigbee was placed out of commission, in reserve, at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard,
Vallejo, Calif.
The North Korean invasion of South Korea, commencing on 25 June 1950, triggered the
reactivation of many Navy ships,
including Tombigbee. The gasoline tanker was recommissioned at Mare
Island on 28 July 1950 and was
deployed to the Middle Pacific (MidPac) operating area where she served until
near the end of hostilities in Korea.
On 13 May 1953, she sailed for the
northern Pacific and operated in that area
until 22 December when she was transferred back to MidPac.
The tanker conducted
logistic support operations in the Pacific through 1964, taking part in
various fleet operations. During the period
from 1953 to 1964, the ship participated in Operations "Rocky Shoals"
(22 October to 22 December 1958), "Twin Peaks" (13 May to 31
May 1959), "Blue Star" (26 February to 6 April 1960), "Long Haul" and "Pack
Mule" (8 September to 20 October 1960), "Green Light" (10
May to 28 June 1961), and "Silver
Sword" (27 October to 6 November 1961), and her areas of operation
ranged from Maui, Hawaii, to Yokosuka,
Japan.
She deployed to the Far
East in the spring of 1962, conducting
logistic support operations out of Subic Bay, Philippines, from 16 May to 8 June befor proceeding to Yokosuka and
technical availability. For the remainder
of the year, the ship conducted local operations out of Pearl Harbor before departing the Hawaiian area on 18 December for Port Lyttelton, New
Zealand, and participation in Operation "Deep Freeze 1963." Following
a port visit to Lyttelton from 5 to 9 January 1963,
Tombigbee pressed on for the colder climes of McMurdo Sound and conducted operations in support
of "Deep Freeze" from 18 to
22 January before returning-via Wellington, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia-to Pearl Harbor. After local operations out
of Pearl, the tanker was deployed to
the Marshalls for local petroleum-carrying operations through the late
summer before returning once again to the Hawaiian Islands for local operations and technical availability at Pearl Harbor.
Tombigbee continued her unglamorous but vital support duties in the Pacific. She was again deployed
to the Marshalls-Kwajalein and Eniwetok-and also conducted local operations out of Pearl. Returning to the west coast in the spring, the tanker
participated in Exercise
"Pinetree" from 21 to 28 May 1964 before returning to Pearl Harbor. Two shuttle runs
between Pearl Harbor and Kaneohe Bay,
Hawaii; classified operations, and
technical and restricted availability at the Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor, occupied the ship through late October,
before she was again deployed to the Philippines.
While in the Far East, Tombigbee operated out of Subic Bay; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Hong Kong; and Yokosuka-before departing Japan on 7 June and arriving at Pearl Harbor on the 18th. She
remained in Hawaiian waters for the
rest of 1965.
Upon completion of her
regular overhaul at Pearl Harbor, Tombigbee
conducted regular refresher training before departing Pearl on 21
February 1966 for passage to Subic Bay,
where she made port on 12 March. Deploying to coastal waters off Vietnam, the
tanker conducted two logistic support
deployments, from 18 March to 6 June,
and from 11 July to 28 August, before returning
to Pearl Harbor for restricted availability, independent ship exercises, and operations as a submarine target reference vessel.
Homeported at Pearl Harbor
in 1967, Tombigbee began the
new year with operations with Submarine Flotilla 5 and Destroyer Flotilla 5 on antisubmarine warfare
exercises off Maui before she conducted exercises
in anticipation of her second WestPac deployment. On 6 September, she departed Pearl Harbor, bound, via Guam and Subic Bay, for Vietnam, and arrived
at Danang on 4 October. She conducted
logistics support operations in the I
Corps tactical zone from 4 October to
2 December, from 29 December 1967 to 26 January 1968, and from 25 February to 19 March. Availability at Subic Bay punctuated her tours in the combat
zone.
Following a return to
Pearl Harbor for overhaul and independent ship exercises, Tombigbee was
redeployed to WestPac. She arrived at Danang
on 23 November for further operations
in I Corps tactical zone, supporting the Vietnamese counteroffensive
operation. On 22 December, while engaged in
these activities, she assisted LCU-1500 which encountered
difficulties and was in danger of being
swept ashore and foundering in heavy
surf. Continuing under the operational command of Naval Support Activity, Danang, Tombigbee carried her support mission of supplying petroleum
products for air and ground forces
engaged in combatting Communist
forces in the I Corps zone through the
middle of the year 1969.
Following a routine
return to Pearl Harbor for upkeep and
availability, the tanker was again deployed off Vietnam with Service Squadron 5 through 1971, supporting Operation "Market Time" in the
Vietnamese coastal waters, with
periodic visits to such ports as Singapore;
Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Hong Kong; Brisbane,
Australia; and Subic Bay. She also conducted surveillance operations of Soviet warships operating in the vicinity of American forces in the South
China Sea.
After returning to Pearl
Harbor at the end of the year 1971, Tombigbee
was placed in reduced operating status
from 1 February 1972. From 31 May to 7 July, the ship underwent inactivation preparations; and, on the latter
date, 7 July, the ship was decommissioned at Pearl
Harbor and transferred to the Greek Navy. Renamed Ariadni (A-414)-after the mythical daughter of King Minas who helped Theseus to escape from
the labyrinth-the ship has served
with the Hellenic Navy as a support tanker through 1979.
Tombigbee was awarded two battle stars for World War II service
and 11 engagement stars for her service in the Vietnam War.
[Note: The above USS TOMBIGBEE (AOG-11) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS TOMBIGBEE (AOG-11), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]