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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108)
ex
USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) (1946 - 1975)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Hotel - Oscar - Sierra
NHOS
JANAP Tactical Voice Radio Call Sign - Mah Jong (F)oxtrot - Section 6A of JANAP 119(F) 1968
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 - Navy Unit Commendation - Navy Expeditionary Medal (Lebanon, Libya) - World War II Victory Medal
Bottom Row - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Lebanon, Cuba, Dominican Republic) - Coast Guard SOS Ribbon (3)

Nickname - "The Smiling Indian"
Cimarron Class Fleet Oiler / Jumboized:
  • Laid down, 22 March 1945, as a Maritime Commission type (T3-S2-A3) tanker hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC 2704) at Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock, Chester, PA.
  • Launched, 19 February 1946
  • Commissioned USS Pawcatuck (AO-108), 10 May 1946, CAPT. Cecil G. McKinney, USNR, in command
  • Jumboized, circa 1964-65
  • Decommissioned, 15 July 1975
  • Placed in service assigned to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108)
  • Placed out of service, circa 1991
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 21 September 1991
  • Title transfer to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Sold for scrapping, contract awarded to Bay Bridge Enterprises, Chesapeake, VA. Announced by MARAD, 21 September 2005. Bay Bridge will be paid $369,373.00 to cut up ex-Pawcatuck
  • Final Disposition, withdrawn from the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group and towed to the breakers yard at Bay Bridge Enterprises, Chesapeake, VA., for scrapping, 19 October 2005.
    Specifications:
    Displacement
    As Build 7,423 t.(lt) 25,440 t.(fl)
    Jumboized 12,840 t.(lt) 34,475 t.(fl)
    Length
    As Built 553'
    Jumboized 644'
    Beam 75'
    Draft
    As Built 32'
    Jumboized 35' 9" (lim)
    Speed 18.3 kts.
    Complement
    As Build
    Officers 22
    Enlisted 282
    Jumboized
    Officers 16
    Enlisted 230
    Armament
    one single 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mount
    four single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts
    four twin 20mm AA gun mounts
    Cargo Capacity 16,500 DWT
    As Built
    Oil 123,700 Bbls
    Gasoline 788,000 Gals
    Jumboized
    NSFO 119,000 Bbls
    JP-5 50,000 Bbls
    AVGAS 8,700 Bbls
    Fuel Capacity
    15,000 Bbls
    Propulsion
    one Westinghouse geared turbines
    two Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers, 450psi 740°
    double Westinghouse Main Reduction Gears
    three turbo-drive 500Kw 450V A.C. Ship's Service Generators
    twin rudders
    twin propellers, 6,750shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Contributed By / Source
    USS Pawcatuck (AO-108)
    Pawcatuck 38k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) underway, date and place unknown. Tom Blood
    Pawcatuck 87k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) at New York City, date unknown Courtesy David Willis
    via David Merrill
    USS Canisteo (AO-99) Web Site
    Pawcatuck
    091910833
    118k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) underway, 26 May 1952., location unknown.
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # USN 446282. Courtesy of Shipscribe
    Robert Hurst
    Pawcatuck 69k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) under way entering Hampton Roads, VA., date unknown. Courtesy David Willis
    via David Merrill
    USS Canisteo (AO-99) Web Site
    Pawcatuck 73k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) under way, date and location unknown. Courtesy David Willis
    via David Merrill
    USS Canisteo (AO-99) Web Site
    Pawcatuck 128k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) refueling USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) and USS Eaton (DDE-510, 18 June 1959. Fourteen S2F anti-submarine planes and two HSS-1 helicopters are parked on the carrier's flight deck and deck-edge elevator.
    US Navy photo # USN 1043955
    US Naval Historical Center
    Pawcatuck 71k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) under way, date and location unknown. Burton Revell USS Pawcatuck 1963-66
    Pawcatuck 293k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) under way in the Mediterranean Sea, Summer 1961.
    Photo taken from USS William R. Rush (DD-714)
    Photo by Robert "Cliff" Wolff ETC, USN Ret.
    Pawcatuck 268k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) under way in the Mediterranean Sea, Summer 1961 while refueling two thirsty destroyers. Photo taken from USS William R. Rush (DD-714) while she waits in line for a drink. Photos by Robert "Cliff" Wolff ETC, USN Ret.
    Pawcatuck 313k
    Pawcatuck 401k USS William R. Rush (DD-714) prepares to come alongside USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) for refueling while operating in the Mediterranean Sea, Summer 1961.
    Photo taken from USS William R. Rush (DD-714)
    Photos by Robert "Cliff" Wolff ETC, USN Ret.
    Pawcatuck 299k
    Pawcatuck
    091910834
    100k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) underway circa late 1960s.
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (UA-164). Photo # unknown. Courtesy of Shipscribe
    Robert Hurst
    Pawcatuck 162k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) refuels USS Randolph (CVS-15) from the oiler's port side and USS Waller (DDE-466) from the oiler's starboard side, while USS Eaton (DDE-510) is steaming astern, waiting her turn for a "drink".
    US Navy photo # NH 67959 received from USS Waller in 1969, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Naval Historical Center
    Pawcatuck 84k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) refueling USS Forrestal (CV-59) and a destroyer, circa August 1960-May 1962, place unknown. Photo taken from USS Goodrich (DDR-831)  Photo by Leslie Levins USS Goodrich
    Pawcatuck 101k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) refueling USS Forrestal (CV-59), circa August 1960-September 1961, location unknown. Photo taken from USS Goodrich (DDR-831). Photo by Leslie Levins USS Goodrich
    Pawcatuck
    091910836
    135k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) underway at Montreal, Canada, 1964.
    Auk Visser's Famous T-Tankers
    Robert Hurst
    Pawcatuck 178k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) moored pierside inboard of USS William H. Standley (DLG-32), circa 1970. location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Pawcatuck 166k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) moored pierside, circa 1971, location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Pawcatuck 74k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) refueling USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and USS Dewey (DLG-14), 13 July 1969, Mediterranean Sea.
    US Navy photo CVA 67-2124-7-69 13 July 1969, PH2 Weaver.
    Roger C. Schulrud MMCS USN Ret. USS Dewey
    Pawcatuck 169k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) refueling USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and USS Dewey (DLG-14), 13 July 1969, Mediterranean Sea.
    US Navy photo CVA 67-2120-7-69 13 July 1969, PH2 Weaver.
    Roger C. Schulrud MMCS USN Ret. USS Dewey
    Pawcatuck 114k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) refueling USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and USS Dewey (DLG-14), 13 July 1969, Mediterranean Sea.
    US Navy photo CVA 67-2122-7-69 13 July 1969, PH2 Weaver.
    Roger C. Schulrud MMCS USN Ret. USS Dewey
    Pawcatuck 74k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) refueling USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and USS Dewey (DLG-14), 13 July 1969, Mediterranean Sea.
    US Navy photo CVA 67-2124-7-69 13 July 1969, PH2 Weaver.
    Roger C. Schulrud MMCS USN Ret. USS Dewey
    Pawcatuck 32k Photo from an unidentified destroyer approaching USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) to begin a refueling evolution, date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp
    Pawcatuck 104k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) under way, date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp
    El Paso 245k USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) and USS El Paso (LKA-117) refueling from USS Pawcatuck (AO-108), during operation "Snowy Beach", in January 1972.
    US National Archives Photo # USN 115089 now in the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Pawcatuck 55k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) secured to a mooring buoy, date and location unknown.
    US Navy Photo, courtesy Auke Vissar's Famous T-Tanker Pages
    Robert Hurst
    Pawcatuck 53k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy Photo, courtesy Auke Vissar's Famous T-Tanker Pages
    Robert Hurst
    Pawcatuck
    091910835
    103k USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) underway in the Mediterranean circa the early 1970s.
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # KN-21025 Courtesy of Shipscribe.
    Robert Hurst
    USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108)
    Pawcatuck 64k USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) under way in MSC service after jumboization, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Courtesy David Willis
    via David Merrill
    USS Canisteo (AO-99) Web Site
    Pawcatuck 56k USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) moored pierside, date and location unknown.
    US Navy Photo, courtesy Auke Vissar's Famous T-Tanker Pages
    Robert Hurst
    Pawcatuck 98k USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) under way in the Mediterranean Sea, July 1976 © Richard Leonhardt
    Pawcatuck
    091910837
    300k USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) underway date and location unknown
    Auk Visser's Famous T-Tankers
    Robert Hurst
    Pawcatuck 1204k USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) moored pierside at Genoa, Italy, 14 May 1983. Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Pawcatuck
    091910832
    224k USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) underway, date and location unknown. Nicholas Tiberio
    Pawcatuck 1488k USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) conducting an underway replenishment with USS Doyle (FFG-39) at the equator, 9 October 1990.
    Defense Imagery photo VIRIN: DN-SC-91-01685, a US Navy photo by PHAN Sean Linehan.
    Robert Hurst
    Caloosahatchee 434k Aerial view of Unit 7 of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA., 28 January 1999. From bottom to top;
    unidentified,
    Santa Cruz
    Vulcan (AR-5),
    Redstone (T-AGM-20),
    2 unidentified APs,
    GEN. N.M. Walter (T-AP-125),
    GEN. Wm. O. Darby (IX-510),
    Waccamaw (T-AO-109),
    Canisteo (AO-99),
    Caloosahatchee (AO-98),
    Mississinewa (T-AO-144),
    Pawcatuck (T-AO-108)
    Truckee (T-AO-147),
    Neosho (T-AO-143),
    Benjamin Isherwood (T-AO-191) and
    Henry Eckford (T-AO-192). These two oilers were both lay-berthed incomplete.
     
    Pawcatuck 80k Ex-Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) under way for the last time as she transits the harbor at Norfolk, VA. on her way to the breakers yard, at Bay Bridge Enterprises, Chesapeake, VA., 19 October 2005 Mabel Clark
    Pawcatuck 1664k Ex-Pawcatuck (T-AO-108) in the breakers yard at Bay Bridge Enterprises, Chesapeake, VA., in 2005. Ron Reeves


    For more photos and information about USS Pawcatuck, see;
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
  • MARAD Vessel History Database
  • USS Pawcatuck (AO-108)

  • Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. McKinney, Cecil Gilmore10 May 1946 - 10 August 1946
    02CAPT. Stokes, Phillip Gaines :RADM 10 August 1946 - 16 June 1947
    03CAPT. Chase, Harry Taylor16 June 1947 - 11 September 1948
    04CAPT. Fitzgibbon, John Edmondson11 September 1948 - 27 September 1949
    05CAPT. Carter, Francis Miller27 September 1949 - 7 December 1950
    06CAPT. Wood, James Marshall7 December 1950 - 7 April 1951
    07LCDR. Hulings Jr., Joseph S., USNR (acting)7 April 1951 - 9 April 1951
    08CAPT. Fitzgerald, John Allison :RADM9 April 1951 - 15 August 1952
    09CAPT. Wilson, William Ritchie15 August 1952 - 1 May 1953
    10CAPT. Dutton, William Tenney1 May 1953 - 1 May 1954
    11CAPT. Reiter Jr., Harry Lee :RADM1 May 1954 - 9 August 1955
    12CAPT. Hills, Blish Charles9 August 1955 - 16 August 1956
    13CAPT. Chew, John Louis :VADM16 August 1956 - 8 December 1956
    14CAPT. Morton, Robert Cameron8 December 1956 - 16 December 1957
    15CAPT. Barnes, William Roy16 December 1957 - 17 January 1959
    16CAPT. Wells, Heydon Forbes17 January 1959 - 27 January 1960
    17CAPT. Ray, Alan2 January 1960 - 26 January 1961
    18CAPT. Bardshar, Frederic Abshire :VADM26 January 1961 - 22 August 1961
    19CAPT. Rumsey II, Dexter Cleveland22 August 1961 - 30 July 1962
    20CAPT. Bunn Jr., Giles Featherston30 July 1962 - 17 April 1963
    21CAPT. Charbonnet Jr., Pierre Numa, USN (USNA 1937) :VADM17 April 1963 - 10 May 1963
    22CAPT. Heyworth Jr., Lawrence :RADM10 May 1963 - 21 May 1964
    23CAPT. Wall, Maurice Edwin21 May 1964 - 15 September 1965
    24LCDR. Garland, Daniel Harper, USN (USNA 1952) (acting)15 September 1965 - 1 August 1966
    25CAPT. Honour, Walter Whitaker, USN (USNA 1944)1 August 1966 - 1 February 1968
    26CAPT. Horne, Floyd Lewis1 February 1968 - 5 April 1969
    27CAPT. Youngblade, Charles John :RADM5 April 1969 - 27 August 1970
    28CAPT. Phillips, Billy27 August 1970 - 12 October 1971
    29CDR. Belechak, Stephen Clair, USN12 October 1971 - 17 August 1973
    30CDR. Johnson, James Edward17 August 1973 - 17 July 1975
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Fleet Tankers Association
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

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    Last Updated 28 June 2024