USS ''Neosho'' (AO–48) was a ''Kennebec''-class type T2

fleet oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. The ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. The ship was laid down on 8 July 1941, as SS ''Catawba'', by the Bethlehem-Sparrows Point Shipyard Inc.,

Sparrows 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 ...

. The purchase came under

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

contract number 145 for the

Socony-Vacuum Oil Company ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its roo ...

, later renamed Mobil Oil. The ship was launched on 23 December 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Wilbur F. Burt. On 18 July 1942 she was renamed ''Neosho'' after the sinking of her namesake (AO-23) during the Battle of the Coral Sea. She was acquired by the Navy at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

on 4 August 1942. She was converted by the Bethlehem Steel Co., Union Works, San Francisco; and commissioned on 16 September 1942, Comdr. Frank L. Worden in command.

Service history

1942–1943

The ''Neosho'', (the third US Navy ship to bear the name), with a cargo capacity of , immediately took up her duties of delivering oil, the life blood of the warship, when and where it was needed. Attached to Service Squadron 8 (

ServRon 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 t ...

8), she conducted shuttle runs along the West Coast and to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

until 3 December when she sailed for

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. From Samoa she continued on to Suva, thence to

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

where she served as station tanker, occasionally deploying for fueling at sea operations, until 26 March 1943. ''Neosho'' then returned to San Pedro for repairs. On 28 April the tanker departed California for

Dutch Harbor, Alaska Dutch Harbor is a harbor on Amaknak Island in Unalaska, Alaska. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June 1942, and was one of the few sites in the United States to be subjected to aerial bombardment by a foreign power during Worl ...

. Arriving on 5 May, she sailed again the next day for Adak whence she operated throughout the Aleutian Islands Campaign. After that campaign ''Neosho'' returned to the South Pacific, departing Pearl Harbor on 10 November with Task Force 50, to refuel and replenish Task Groups 50.2 and 50.3 prior to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. After the bloody, but successful, landings there she joined TU 16.10.11 to fuel TF 53 as it steamed toward the next objective, the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...

1944–1945

By 6 February 1944, when ''Neosho'' entered the lagoon,

Majuro Majuro (; Marshallese: ' ) is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The ato ...

had been secured and set up as a base of operations. From there AO–48 sailed to fuel and provision the ships at sea as strikes were conducted at Hollandia. The

Western Carolines The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the centra ...

fell next and

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the larges ...

became ''Neosho''s new base of operations. From there she supported the vessels of TFs 50 and 58 as they helped secure the Marianas and blocked the enemy's efforts to open aerial and maritime lanes to carry reinforcements and supplies to the defenders of their constantly receding empire. On 26 August ''Neosho'' arrived at Manus whence she supplied the fleet as land forces secured the southern

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

s and invaded the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

. In December 1944, and January 1945, she fueled and provisioned the fast carrier forces in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

and the Western Pacific as those forces hit Japanese installations, and shipping, on, and along, the Asiatic mainland, in the Central and Northern Philippines, on Formosa, and in the

Ryukyus The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

to prevent reinforcements from reaching the Japanese fighting on

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...

and

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

. ''Neosho'' continued to support TF 58 through the Iwo Jima campaign after which she returned to San Pedro, arriving on 30 April for overhaul. On 16 May equipped with new surface and air sweep radar and radar controlled guns, she departed

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. On 7 June she arrived at Ulithi, whence she shuttled fuel to, and replenished ships at sea off,

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

until the end of the war, on 15 August. In October, ''Neosho'' was ordered back to the United States and on 21 November she reported to Com5 for inactivation.

Decommissioning and sale

Decommissioned on 13 December 1945, she was stricken from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 3 January 1946 and turned over to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 30 June 1946. ''Neosho'' was sold in 1947 to the

, and renamed SS ''Tascalusa'', then to ''Ascalusa'' in 1963, the ship was finally scrapped in February 1964.

References

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T2 Tanker site
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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neosho (AO-48) Kennebec-class oilers Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland 1941 ships Ships of ExxonMobil