USS Trinity (AO-13)

USS ''Trinity'' (AO-13) was a -class replenishment oiler of the United States Navy.

Construction and commissioning

''Trinity'' was laid down on 10 November 1919 at Newport News, Virginia by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company; launched on 3 July 1920 and commissioned on 4 September 1920.

Service history

Pre-World War II

1920–1923

Following shakedown, ''Trinity'' got underway from Chesapeake Bay on 11 February 1921, bound for the Mediterranean. She arrived at Valletta, Malta and delivered general stores for USS ''Pittsburgh'' (CA-4) before proceeding to Split, Yugoslavia (present-day Croatia), with fuel oil for American ships operating in the Adriatic. After a three-day layover at Split, she got underway on 8 March for Venice, where she arrived on 12 March. She eventually called at Pula (then in Italy, now in Croatia), before making port at Brindisi to take on fuel oil and general supplies for the naval base at Constantinople, Turkey, and American naval forces operating in Turkish waters. Following the delivery of this cargo, ''Trinity'' sailed to Gibraltar, then departed there on 4 April and arrived at Tompkinsville, Staten Island, New York, on 17 April. Subsequently, based at Norfolk, Virginia and assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, the oiler operated along the United States East Coast and in the Caribbean until she was decommissioned on 22 December 1923 and laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

1938–1941

''Trinity'' remained there, inactive, until growing tension in both Europe and the Far East prompted the Navy to enlarge its building programs, and to recondition and recommission old ships. Accordingly, ''Trinity'' was recommissioned at Philadelphia on 21 June 1938. She transported cargoes of oil from ports on the Gulf of Mexico to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Panama Canal Zone.

Transferred to the Pacific Fleet early in 1939, ''Trinity'' carried oil to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for use by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. In the summer, she turned her attention to the Far East and conducted voyages from ports on the United States West Coast and in the Netherlands East Indies to the Philippine Islands, delivering fuel oil to storage facilities such as those on Sangley Point, near Cavite. Late in 1940, the oiler was transferred to the Asiatic Fleet.

She departed Manila Bay on 28 February 1941 to commence the first of eight round-trip voyages in that year to ports in oil-rich Borneo and the Netherlands East Indies. As war clouds gathered on the horizon in the summer of 1941, an organization plan was drawn up which designated ''Trinity'' as part of the Manila-based Task Force 2. At the end of the eighth voyage, ''Trinity'' arrived at Manila on 3 December 1941.

World War II

1941 — Escape from Manila

On 8 December, ''Trinity'' lay alongside the fuel docks at Sangley Point, discharging oil to the storage tanks ashore, when she received word from Admiral Thomas C. Hart that "Japan has commenced hostilities — govern yourselves accordingly."

With Japanese air attacks expected momentarily, Hart decided to send the two Navy oilers, ''Trinity'' and USS ''Pecos'' (AO-6), and seaplane tender USS Langley (AV-3) south from Manila Bay. Later that day, these three valuable auxiliaries, shepherded by USS ''Pope'' (DD-225) and USS ''John D. Ford'' (DD-228), departed in a hastily assembled convoy. Two days later, while the American ships sailed for Borneo, 80 Japanese bombers and 52 fighter planes attacked the American navy yard at Cavite, destroying it as a base for the Asiatic Fleet. ''Trinity'' had departed the area just in time.

The convoy reached Balikpapan, Borneo, on 14 December 1941. ''Trinity'' then commenced her wartime operations with the hard-pressed United States Asiatic Fleet.

South Pacific

After a one-month stay at Balikpapan fueling Allied warships, ''Trinity'' steamed first to Koepang Bay, Timor, and then to Kebola Bay, at Amor Island in the Netherlands East Indies. Standing out of Kebola Bay on 17 January 1942, ''Trinity'' set course for Australia, escorted by the destroyers and . The ships were in the Beagle Gulf west of Darwin, Australia, on the morning of 20 January 1942 when the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine sighted ''Trinity'' heading toward Darwin. Misidentifying ''Trinity'' as a transport, ''I-123'' fired four Type 89 torpedoes at ''Trinity'' at shortly after 0630. The sound man aboard ''I-123'' reported hearing one torpedo hit ''Trinity'', but in fact all four torpedoes missed, although ''Trinity'' sighted three of them and reported the attack. ''Alden'' then searched for ''I-123'', made sound contact, and conducted a brief depth charge attack at 06:41 before losing contact on ''I-123'' and abandoning the search. ''I-123'' escaped unscathed.

Upon her arrival at Darwin, ''Trinity'' filled the depleted fuel bunkers of and , the submarine tenders to the Asiatic Fleet submarine forces operating in the Malay Barrier. (The submarine tender had been left at Manila Bay to provide for the Manila-based submarines.) When she had delivered the fuel, orders came for ''Trinity'', ''Otus'', and ''Holland'' to accompany the destroyer tender and four destroyers on a voyage to the south coast of Java to establish a base there.

1942 – Middle East

Dropping anchor at the congested port of Tjilatjap, she remained there a week before Vice Admiral William A. Glassford, Commander, United States Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific (COMSOWESPAC), dispatched her to Iran to obtain refined fuel oil to relieve the critical fuel shortage in the war zone. Departing Tjilatjap on 17 February in company with ''Edsall'', she proceeded independently after her escort was ordered back to port and arrived at Abadan, Iran, on 9 March.

The first United States warship in local memory to have visited this part of the world, ''Trinity'' gathered valuable intelligence material on local conditions in Iraq and Iran, including observations of the port-of-entry (Abadan) for war materials slated for use by the Soviet Union. She also collected oceanographic data on the Persian Gulf. After loading her vital cargo, she headed for Fremantle on 17 March.

Java fell even before ''Trinity'' arrived at her destination. Although Allied forces had been driven out of the Malay Barrier, they gathered in Australia to begin building for the long road back. COMSOWESPAC retained ''Trinity'' for the Persian Gulf-Fremantle run, calling at such varied ports as Basra, Iraq; Bahrein, Arabia; Diego Garcia, Chagos Archipelago; Bombay, India; and Geraldton and Albany, Australia; as well as the now-familiar ports of Abadan and Fremantle. On one occasion, in November 1942, the ship encountered a typhoon in which heavy seas, whipped by winds, enveloped the ship and destroyed two motor whaleboats.

1943–1944

In 1943, with Papua New Guinea secured and the Buna-Gona campaign successfully resolved, ''Trinity'' moved her base to Milne Bay, New Guinea, where she arrived on 13 August 1943 and came under the control of Commander, Base Force, 7th Fleet. Attached to this command for the remainder of the year, ''Trinity'' plied the Milne Bay-Brisbane route, while also touching at Cairns and Townsville, Australia. When anchored at Milne Bay, she provided oil for miscellaneous Allied ships. She subsequently moved north to commence operations in the Buna-Cape Cretin vicinity, an area in which she remained until early March.

During the next few months, she proceeded back to Milne Bay and thence to Port Moresby before heading for Cairns and completing the round trip to Milne Bay on 24 July 1944. Operating out of the New Guinea area, she worked as shuttle tanker and harbor feeder, anchoring at such places as Manus in the Admiralties, Humboldt Bay and Hollandia on the north coast of New Guinea, and at Biak in the Schouten Islands.

1945

By January 1945, as the war progressed steadily towards the Japanese homeland, ''Trinity'' continued her unglamourous but vital job of plying the triangular New Guinea-Shouten Islands-Admiralty Islands route, shuttling cargoes of oil needed to keep the warships of the Fleet in operation. Arriving at Leyte, Philippines, in May 1945, she returned to waters from which she had been driven so unceremoniously in those dark days of December 1941. For the remainder of her active service, she operated in the western Pacific through the end of the war and the early months of the occupation.

Post-World War II

''Trinity'' departed Samar on 12 January 1946, bound for home. After stops at Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor, she arrived at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 22 February and reported to Commandant, 12th Naval District. The oiler remained there until decommissioned on 28 May. Struck from the Navy list on 3 July, she was delivered to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration on 5 September 1946. Sold to the Colonial Steamship Corporation in 1951, the tanker was renamed ''Seabeaver''.

Commendations

''Trinity'' received one battle star for her World War II service.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Trinity
Patoka-class oilers
World War II auxiliary ships of the United States
Ships built in Newport News, Virginia
1920 ships