USS ''Ponchatoula'' (AO-148) was one of six ''Neosho''-class

fleet oilers 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 ...

built for 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 ...

, in service from 1956 to 1992, and named for the

Ponchatoula Creek Ponchatoula Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 20, 2011 tributary of the Natalbany River in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. The two waterways join where a sectio ...

which rises in

Tangipahoa Parish Tangipahoa Parish (; French: ''Paroisse de Tangipahoa'') is a parish located in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 121,097. The parish seat is Amite City, while the largest city is ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and flows into the

Natalbany River The Natalbany River drains into Lake Maurepas in Louisiana in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 8, 2019 Etymology It is specu ...

, west of

Ponchatoula, Louisiana Ponchatoula is the second-largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. The population was 6,559 at the 2010 census and 7,545 at the time of the 2020 population estimates program. Etymology It is speculated that the name is derived from the Ch ...

. She was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. ''Ponchatoula'' was laid down at the

New York Shipbuilding The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, on 1 March 1954, launched on 9 July 1955, sponsored by Mrs. I. N. Kiland, and commissioned on 12 January 1956.

Service history

After fitting out at

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, ''Ponchatoula'', the sixth of a class designed to combine speed and large cargo capacity for rapid

underway replenishment Replenishment at sea (RAS) ( North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Commonwealth of Nations) or underway replenishment (UNREP) ( U.S. Navy) is a method of transferring fuel, munitions, and stores from one ship to another while under way. First devel ...

over extended operational periods, got underway for the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. Arriving at

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, on 10 March, she underwent shakedown and training exercises off the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

coast and in September deployed to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. En route she assisted ''SS Venus'', a

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

nian merchantman lying helpless on the fringes of two

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

s. Taking ''Venus'' in tow on the 26th, ''Ponchatoula'' was relieved of her tow on the 28th, and continued on to

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

to join the

7th Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of ...

. Rotated regularly to the western Pacific, ''Ponchatoula'' was homeported at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

in early 1958 and received her introduction to support under hostile conditions while operating with 7th Fleet units during the Quemoy-Matsu Crisis in the fall of that year. Support for experimental operations highlighted 1962 as she provided POL (petroleum, oil, lubricants) services to Joint Task Force 8 engaged in "Operation Dominic I" (the

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

nuclear test series), then operated with

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

recovery ships during the '' Sigma 7'' splashdown. Repeating that support with ''

Faith 7 Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final crewed space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963, from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named ''Faith 7'', completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in ...

'' in 1963, she shifted to combat operations in October 1964 and deployed to 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 ...

to refuel ships employ the coast of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. After 279 refuelings, she returned 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 ...

an waters. In June 1965 she participated in recovery operations for ''

Gemini 4 Gemini 4 (officially Gemini IV) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was the second crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini, occurring in June 1965. It was the tenth crewed American spaceflight (in ...

'', then deployed again to Vietnam. In December she interrupted operations there to support the recovery ships for '' Gemini 6'' and ''

Gemini 7 Gemini 7 (officially Gemini VII) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1965 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the fourth crewed Gemini flight, the twelfth crewed American spacefl ...

'' and in April 1966 returned to Hawaii after having set a new record in the Pacific Fleet by bringing 503 ships alongside, 464 of which she refueled. Deployed to WestPac again in November 1967, she pumped over of fuel through her hoses before returning home in June 1968. In October she again joined ships in the Pacific splashdown area, this time to recover '' Apollo 7'', the first U.S. three-man flight. USS Ponchatoula AO-148 USS Blue Ridge LCC-19 1991

USS Ponchatoula AO-148 USS Blue Ridge LCC-19 1991

By 8 December, ''Ponchatoula'' was back in 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 ...

, whence she got underway for "

Yankee Station Yankee Station (officially Point Yankee) was a fixed coordinate off the coast of Vietnam where U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and support ships operated in open waters over a nine-year period during the Vietnam War. The location was used primar ...

" in the Gulf of Tonkin on the 15th again to replenish ships operating in support of Allied operations in Vietnam. ''Ponchatoula'' earned twelve

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

s for

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

service. In July 1969, she returned home and into 1970 remained in Hawaiian waters. In 1972 she refueled USS ''Berkeley'' (DDG 15) home bound from the

. Decommissioned on 5 September 1980 (Captain Jack C. Presley), ''Ponchatoula'' was placed in service with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS ''Ponchatoula'' (T-AO-148) where she served with the Seventh Fleet in the Persian Gulf during

Operation Fiery Vigil Operation Fiery Vigil was the Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) emergency evacuation of all non-essential military and U.S. Department of Defense civilian personnel and their dependents from Clark Air Base and U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay ...

Operation Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. She was badly damaged in a collision with the guided missile cruiser ''USS Chancellorsville (CG62)'' in August 1991. The ''Chancellorsville'' suffered a steering casualty during underway replenishment operations and heeled sharply to port, ramming the ''Ponchatoula's'' starboard side at the Bridge, then sliding down the starboard side of the ship, buckling the upper deck plates of the ''Ponchatoula'' to the engine house and damaging the ''Chancellorsville's'' hurricane bow and sonar dome. ''Ponchatoula'' was struck 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 31 August 1992; her title was transferred to MARAD on 1 May 1999 for lay-up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

, Suisun Bay, Benicia, California. MARAD listed ''Ponchatoula'' still at Suisun Bay in February 2007. She was towed from Suisun Bay on June 5, 2014 to be dismantled in Brownsville, Texas. Her final voyage is chronicled at ''http://navy.memorieshop.com/Ponchatoula/Last-Voyage.html''. USS Ponchatoula (AO-148)

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponchatoula (Ao-148) 1955 ships Neosho-class oilers Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana