USS ''Escalante'' (AO-70) was a T3 built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the only U.S. Navy ship named for the Escalante River in Utah.

History

''Escalante'' (AO-70), formerly SS ''Shabone'', was constructed for the Maritime Commission by the Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc.,

Sparrow's Point, Maryland Sparrow's Point is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, adjacent to Dundalk. Named after Thomas Sparrow, landowner, it was the site of a very large industrial complex owned by Bethlehem Steel, known for steelm ...

, in 1942 and sponsored by Mrs. Walter E. Than. She was acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 30 January 1943. After a brief

shakedown cruise Shakedown cruise is a nautical term in which the performance of a ship is tested. Generally, shakedown cruises are performed before a ship enters service or after major changes such as a crew change, repair or overhaul. The shakedown cruise s ...

in the Chesapeake Bay area, she transported a cargo of aviation gasoline from

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, to the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...

. She was then assigned to duty with the Atlantic Fleet, with Task Forces 60 and 61. Between May 1943 and 30 October 1944 she made six trips to North Africa and two to United Kingdom ports where she fueled ships for the

Normandy invasion Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

. ''Escalante'' returned to Norfolk Navy Yard for overhaul to fit her for duty in the Pacific. On 4 December 1944 she loaded fuel at

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

, passed through the Panama Canal and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 26 December. She reported to

Service Squadron A Service Squadron (ServRon) was a United States Navy squadron that supported fleet combat ships and US Navy Auxiliary ships. Service Squadrons were used by the US Navy from their inception in 1943 to as late as the early 1980s. At the time of th ...

10 to operate mainly from Ulithi in refueling units of the

U.S. 3rd Fleet The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering ...

and the

U.S. 5th Fleet The Fifth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It has been responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean since 1995 after a 48-year hiatus. It shares a commander and headq ...

at sea and thereby taking part in the action against Luzon,

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

, Okinawa and the Japanese homeland. From 26 September 1945 until 20 October she fueled ships in Tokyo Bay and then set sail for San Francisco, California, arriving on 31 October. She was placed out of commission on 12 December 1945 and transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal. She served in commercial service as the SS ''George McDonald'' until 30 June 1960 when she foundered approximately 165 miles east of Savannah, GA.

Awards and honors

''Escalante'' received four battle stars for World War II service.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Escalante (Ao-70) Chiwawa-class oilers Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland 1942 ships World War II auxiliary ships of the United States World War II tankers of the United States