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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

USNS Kiska (T-AE-35)
ex
 USS Kiska (AE-35) (1972 - 1996)

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Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Secretary of the Navy Letter of Commendation
Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Joint Meritorious Unit Award
Second Row - Navy Unit Commendation (2) - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (3) - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (4)
Third Row - Navy Expeditionary Medal (1 Iran/Indian Ocean) - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Mayaquez Operation, 1- Libya)
Fourth Row - Southwest Asia Service Medal - Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal - Humanitarian Service Medal (Boat People, 21 July 79 - 30 June 84)
Kilauea Class Ammunition Ship:
  • Laid down, 8 April 1971, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Litton Systems Inc., Pascagoula, MS.
  • Launched, 11 March 1972
  • Commissioned, USS Kiska (AE-35), 16 December 1972
  • Decommissioned, 1 August 1996 and placed in service by MSC as USNS Kiska (T-AE-35)
  • USNS Kiska is assigned to the Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force (PM1) MSC Pacific
  • Deactivated and struck from the Naval Register, 15 January 2011, at Pearl Harbor, to be disposed of
  • Kiska was towed out of Pearl Harbor by tug Leslie Foss, 30 March 2013, en route Brownsville, TX. for scrapping
  • Final Disposition, to be scrapped at Brownsville, TX.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 9,340 t.(lt) 19,940 t.(fl)
    Length 564'
    Beam 81'
    Draft 29'
    Speed 20 kts.
    Complement
    MSC 125 -133 Civilian Mariners
    Naval Detachment 30
    Cargo Capacity 60,000 cu ft 6,000DWT
    Armament
    USS - four twin 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts
    USNS - none
    Aircraft
    two MH60S Seahawk helicopters
    Propulsion
    one General Electric turbine
    three Foster-Wheeler 600psi boilers
    single six blade fixed propeller, 22,000shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Kiska (AE-35)
    Kiska 190k Kiska (AE-35) on the builder's ways at Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Litton Systems Inc., Pascagoula, MS a few days prior to launch.
    Ingalls Shipbuilding photo    		 Dale Hargrave
    Kiska 114k Kiska (AE-35) launching, 11 March 1972, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Litton Systems Inc., Pascagoula, MS.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine January 1976    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Kiska 287k USS Kiska (AE-35) underway in the Pacific Ocean in 1973.
    US Navy photo    		 Mike Smolinski
    Kiska 57k USS Kiska (AE-35) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		  
    Kiska 53k USS Kiska (AE-35) underway, date and location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Kiska 76k USS Kiska (AE-35) underway in San Francisco Bay, date unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Kiska 111k USS Kiska (AE-35) moored pierside at NAS North Island, Coronado, CA., circa late1978-early1979. Photo by Richard Stiles
    Kiska 1275k Aerial view of Mare Island Naval Shipyard, May 1980. From left to right: ARD-24, river craft of Special Boat Unit 11 (SBU-11), USS Kiska (AE-35), USS Parche (SSN-683) with DSRV, and YM-35 dredging the area.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # MINSY 168005-5-80 NS    		 Darryl Baker
    Kiska 104k USS Kiska (AE-35) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine February 1981    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Kiska 44k USS Kiska (AE-35) entering San Francisco Bay after passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, date unknown.
    ©Marine Photos, San Diego, CA.    		 Mike Smolinski
    Kiska 492k USS Kiska (AE-35) entering San Francisco Bay, date unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Charles Lamm
    Kiska 88k USS Kiska (AE-35) underway, date and location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Kiska
    09053521    		 26k USS Kiska (AE-35) outbound to sea from San Francisco Bay after passing under the Golden Gage Bridge, date unknown. Nicholas Tiberio
    Kiska 85k USS Kiska (AE-35) outbound to sea from San Francisco Bay, date location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    USNS Kiska (T-AE-35)
    Kiska 67k USNS Kiska (T-AE-35) underway in December 2002 just outside the breakwater at Astoria, OR. after completion of her 2002 dry docking John Burke
    Kiska 368k An SH-60 Seahawk helicopter picks up ordnance from USNS Kiska (T-AE-35) for delivery aboard USS Constellation (CV-64) during a vertical replenishment at sea (VERTREP), on 5 April 2003. The Constellation Carrier Strike Group was deployed in the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the multinational coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and end the regime of Saddam Hussein.
    US Navy photo # 03045-N-9712-C-001 PHAN John P. Curtis.    		 Robert Hurst
    Shasta 706k USNS Shasta (T-AE-33) left, USNS Flint (T-AE-32), center, and USNS Kiska (T-AE-35) steaming together in the Sea of Japan, 11 November 2005, following a crossdeck evolution that moved approximately 1,500 pallets of ordnance between the ships, while operating as part of Task Force Seven Three (TF-73) the Fleet's logistics task force.
    US Department of Defense photo # 051111-D-1511B-001 Sea of Japan (Nov. 11, 2005) by Byron D. Boyer.    		 US Navy Newsstand
    Kiska 374k USNS Kiska (T-AE-35) moored at Naval Station San Diego, CA., December 2005. Photo by Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    CVN-76 Ronald Reagan 132k USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), right, goes alongside USNS Kiska (T-AE-35) for ordnance offload in the Western Pacific Ocean during exercise Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration Foal Eagle 2007, 28 March 2007.
    US Navy photo # 070328-N-7130B-014 by MC2 Aaron Burden.    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Kiska 280k Ex-USNS Kiska (T-AE-35) in the Miraflores Lock, Panama Canal, 16 May 2013, while heading for the breakers at Brownsville, TX. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Additional Ships Patches
    Kiska
    Contributed by Mike Smolinski    		 Kiska
    Contributed by Mike Smolinski    		 Kiska
    Contributed by Tommy Trampp

    For more photos and information about USS / USNS Kiska, see:
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
  • Change of Command Program - 17 December 1982
    • Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Rockwood, Jerred Rushton, USN15 December 1972 - November 1975
    02CDR. Toney, Robert Lee, USN ;RADMNovember 1975 - 20 December 1976
    03CDR. Fuscaldo, Robert Patrick, USN20 December 1976 - 5 February 1979
    04CDR. Clark, Frank Elwood, USN5 February 1979 - 28 April 1981
    05CDR. Balian, Alexander George, USN28 April 1981 - 17 December 1982
    06CAPT. Pivonka, Leo Michael, USN17 December 1982 - October 1985
    07CDR. Bepko III, John Joseph, USN :RADMOctober 1985 - 5 February 1988
    08CDR. Schuknecht, Richard Edward, USN (USNA 1971)5 February 1988 - 18 December 1989
    09CAPT. Hewett, Ronald Edward, USN18 December 1989 - 22 January 1992
    11CDR. Collins, Robert Theodore22 January 1992 - 1 December 1993
    11CDR. Hixenbaugh, Paul Noel, USN1 December 1993 - September 1995
    12CAPT. Reed, Nori Ann, USNSeptember 1995 - 1 August 1996
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    Last Updated 1 March 2024