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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Sabine (AO-25)

International Radio Call Signs,
USS Sabine (AO-25) Assigned in 1941 International Radio Call Sign: Negat - Afirm - King - Easy NAKE	USS Sabine (AO-25) Assigned in 1961 Radio Call Sign: November - Hotel - Oscar - Charlie NHOC

JANAP Tactical Voice Radio Call Sign - Nevada (T)ango - Section 6A of JANAP 119(F) 1968

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Presidential Unit Citation (Doolittle Raid) - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - Navy Expeditionary Service Medal (2-Cuba)
Second Row - China Service Medal (extended) - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal
Third Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (10) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia/Europe clasp)
Fourth Row - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Cuba, 2-Dominican Republic) - Philippine Liberation Medal

Cimarron Class Fleet Oiler:

Laid down, 18 September 1939, as SS Esso Albany (I), a Maritime Commission type (T3-S2-A1) tanker hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 10), at Bethlehem Steel, Sparrows Point, MD.

Launched, 27 April 1940

Acquired by the Navy, 25 September 1940

Commissioned USS Sabine (AO-25), 25 September 1940, CDR. Edmund W. Strother USN Ret. in command

During World War II USS Sabine was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
Pacific Raids-1942 Marshall-Gilbert raids, 1 February 1942	Marianas operation Capture and occupation of Saipan, 11 June to 10 August 1944 3rd Bonin raid, 3 and 4 July 1944 Capture and occupation of Guam, 12 July to 15 August 1944
Gilbert Islands operation 24 to 26 November 1943	Western Caroline Islands operation Capture and occupation of southern Palau Islands, 6 September to 14 October 1944 Assault on the Philippine Islands, 7 to 24 September 1944
Marshall Islands operation Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, 29 January to 8 February 1944 Occupation of Eniwetok Atoll, 17 February to 2 March 1944	Leyte operation Leyte landings, 18 October to 29 November 1944
Asiatic-Pacific Raids-1944 Truk attack, 16 to 17 February 1944 Marianas attack, 21 to 22 February 1944 Palau, Yap, Ulithi, Woleai and Sabang raid, 30 March to 1 April 1944 Truk, Satawan, Ponope raid, 27 April to 1 May 1944	Okinawa Gunto operation 5th and 3rd Fleet operations in support of Okinawa Gunto, 23 March to 20 June 1945 Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 24 March to 30 June 1945
Hollandia operation Aitape Humboldt Bay-Tanahmerah Bay, 21 to 24 April 1944	3rd Fleet operations against Japan 10 July to 14 August 1945

USS Sabine was assigned to Occupation and China service in the Far East and Occupation service in Europe for the following periods:

Navy Occupation Service Medal	China Service Medal (extended)
Asia - 2 September to 15 November 1945	18 November 1945 to 22 April 1946
Asia - 14 October to 3 November 1945	5 November 1946 to 18 January 1947
Asia - 5 to 24 March 1947	27 to 30 March 1947
Asia - 2 to 26 April 1947	5 to 10 and 29 to 31 July 1947
Asia - 5 to 23 May 1947	11 November to 13 December 1947
Asia - 4 to 6 and 13 to 25 July 1947	21 to 23 September 1948
Asia - 16 October to 7 November 1947	10 October to 4 November 1948
Asia - 17 to 24 July 1948	21 to 24 to 30 January 1949
Asia - 5 to 17 September 1948
Asia - 3 to 7 October 1948
Asia - 3 to 9 November 1948
Asia - 17 to 20 January 1949
Europe - 13 May to 4 August 1950
Europe - 30 March to 24 July 1951
Europe - 29 October 1952 to 26 January 1953

Decommissioned, 14 February 1955

Placed in service by the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), 10 December 1956

Placed out of service, 13 November 1957

Transferred to the Maritime Administration for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX.

Struck from the Naval Register, 14 January 1959

Reacquired and reinstated on the Naval Register in 1961

Recommissioned, 10 December 1961

Decommissioned, 20 February 1969, at Philadelphia, PA.

Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia

Transferred to the Maritime Administration, 22 January 1970, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.

Struck from the Naval Register, 1 December 1976

USS Sabine earned ten battle stars for World War II service

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 1 August 1983, scrapped in Taiwan

Specifications:
Displacement 7,470 t.(lt) 25,440 t.(fl)
Length 553'
Beam 75'
Draft 32' 4"
Speed 18.3 kts. (trial)

Complement

Officers 23

Enlisted 280

Largest Boom Capacity10 t.

Armament

one single 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mount

four 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts

four twin 40mm AA gun mounts

four twin 20mm AA gun mounts

Cargo Capacity

Oil - 123,700 Bbs

Gasoline - 788,000 Gals

Fuel Capacity NSFO - 15,000 Bbls

Propulsion

two Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Parsons-type geared turbines

four Foster and Wheeler Express boilers, 450psi 750°

double De Laval Main Reduction Gears

two turbo-drive 400Kw 230V A.C. Ship's Service Generators

twin propellers 13,500shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
091902526	100k	*Namesake* Sabine - The Sabine River is a river, 510 miles long, in the Southern U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. From the 32nd parallel north and downstream, it serves as part of the boundary between the two states and empties into Sabine Lake, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico. Over the first half of the 19th century, the river formed part of the Spanish–American, Mexican–American, and Texan–American international boundaries. The Sabine just south of U.S. Route 80 near Big Sandy, Texas, 18 August 2011 Photo by © Billy Hathorn	Tommy Trampp
	174k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25)** under way, date and location unknown. US Navy photo.	Tommy Trampp
	81k	Stern view of *USS Sabine* (AO-25)** off Mare Island Navy Yard, 12 December 1941	Darryl Baker
	66k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25), approaching USS Enterprise (CV-6)** to begin refueling, February 1942.	Auke Visser´s ESSO Tanker web site
091902527	303k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25) alongside USS Enterprise (CV-6)** ready to begin refueling, February 1942. US National Archives photo # 80-G-63347a<, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives	Rick Davis
	137k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25) refuels USS Enterprise (CV-6)** in rough weather, during the approach phase of the Doolittle Raid on Japan, 17 April 1942. Note configuration of refueling gear, and spare anchor stowed on the oiler's after superstructure bulkhead. US National Archives photo # 80-G-330659, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	64k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25) refueling USS Honolulu (CL-48)**, date and location unknown.	Auke Visser´s ESSO Tanker web site
	64k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25) refueling USS Nicholas (DD-449)**, date and location unknown.	Auke Visser´s ESSO Tanker web site
	338k	This sequence of photographs of *USS Sabine* (AO-25) refueling the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-12) and a Baltimore Class Heavy Cruiser was taken by Photographer’s Mate 2/C Paul D. Guttman from the deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet somewhere in the Western Pacific during late 1944 or early 1945. The carrier visible in the distance is USS Yorktown (CV-10). In the second photo a crewman is visible in the lower right foreground preparing to fire a heaving line across to the tanker with a line-throwing gun. In the third photo he has just fired the gun, and the curved white line visible in the picture is the heaving line shooting across to Sabine**.	Robert Guttman for his father PhoM2/c Paul D. Guttman.
	251k
	209k
	149k
	120k
	73k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25)** at anchor, circa 1945, location unknown. US Navy photo, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Robert Hurst
	156k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25) moored pierside at Naval Base, Los Angeles, Terminal Island, 12 August, 1954. Sabine** waiting to be loaded with fuel before deployment to the western Pacific. Photo courtesy of the USC Libraries Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA.	Bill Gonyo
	95k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25)** under way in 1966, location unknown.	© Richard Leonhardt
	95k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25)**under way in 1966, location unknown.	© Richard Leonhardt
	57k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25) with USS Fred T. Berry (DD-858)** coming alongside for replenishment during Operation CANUS-SILEX, 28 August 1965. Photo was taken from USS Fred T. Berry	© Richard Leonhardt
	58k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25) and USS Albany (CG-10) coming alongside for replenishment. Photo taken from USS Meredith (DD-890)** in the Caribbean Sea in March 1967.	Photo by Sheridan Carey ETN-3 USN
	124k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25)** underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, January 1964.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	206k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25)** underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photo.	Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
	321k	*USS Sabine* (AO-25)** underway off Mayport, FL. date unknown. US Navy photo.	Mike Smolinski

USS Sabine (AO-25)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	CDR. Strother Jr., Edmund Weyman, USN Ret.	25 September 1940 - 21 October 1940
02	LCDR. Harrison, Drayton	21 October 1940 - 5 November 1940
03	CDR. Maples, Houston Ledbetter	5 November 1940 - 14 December 1942
04	CDR. Riggs Jr., Whitaker Forcha	14 December 1942 - 18 April 1943
05	CAPT. Junker, Alexander Foster	18 April 1943 - 6 March 1944
06	CDR. Von Weien, Hans Claus	6 March 1944 - 11 March 1946
07	CAPT. Mitchell, Ray Andes	11 March 1946 - 24 September 1946
08	CAPT. Simpson, Samuel Douglas	24 September 1946 - 10 October 1947
09	CAPT. Wolverton, Thomas Michael :RADM	10 October 1947 - 11 September 1948
10	CAPT. Studebaker, David John	11 September 1948 - 23 August 1949
11	CAPT. Tackney, Stephen Noel	23 August 1949 - 1 August 1950
12	CAPT. Hannon, Edward Robert	1 August 1950 - 14 August 1951
13	CAPT. Bellis, Louis Joseph	14 August 1951 - 10 July 1952
14	CAPT. Curtis, Robert William	10 July 1952 - 17 August 1953
15	CAPT. Weeks, Robert Harper :RADM	17 August 1953 - 24 July 1954
16	LCDR. Westcott, Thomas L.	24 July 1954 - 14 February 1955
	Decommissioned	14 February 1955 to 15 November 1956
	In Service	15 November 1956 - 10 December 1956
17	CAPT. Hoppe, William Everett	10 December 1956 - 13 November 1957
	Decommissioned	13 November 1957 - 14 December 1961
18	CAPT. Deacon, Edward Thorp	14 December 1961 - 4 October 1962
19	CAPT. LaForest, Thomas John	4 October3 1962 - 4 August 1963
20	CAPT. Werner, Ralph L. (Bull)	4 August 1963 - 17 July 1964
21	CAPT. Lindstrom, Kenith Visen	17 July 1964 - 10 June 1965
22	CAPT. Baumeister Jr., Charles	10 June 1965 - 18 June 1966
23	CAPT. Stephens, Russel Thurmond	18 June 1966 - 2 October 1967
24	CAPT. Yeagle, Carl H.	2 October 1967 - 20 February 1969


Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves. Photos courtesy Bill Gonyo

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
MARAD Vessel History Database

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Last Updated 17 July 2024