- USS Cimarron (AO-22)
USS "Cimarron" (AO-22) was a "Cimarron"-class oiler serving with the
United States Navy and only the second ship to be named for theCimarron River in the southwesternUnited States . She was launched 7 January 1939 bySun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company,Chester, Pennsylvania ; sponsored by Mrs.William D. Leahy ; and commissioned 20 March 1939 with Lieutenant Commander William W. Behrens, Jr. in command.World War II
"Cimarron" cleared
Houston 31 May 1939 forPearl Harbor , arriving 21 July. She transported oil between west coast ports and Pearl Harbor, making 13 such voyages until she sailed for the east coast on 19 August 1940. After repairs and alterations, she began oil runs on the east coast, principally betweenBaton Rouge and Norfolk, until August 1941, when she took part in amphibious operations. From 5–16 September she put to sea with a transport convoy bound forIceland , and voyaged north again from 12 October to 5 November to refuel ships atPlacentia Bay . On 15 November 1941, she joined a convoy atTrinidad bound forSingapore with reinforcements, but was detached from the convoy on 9 December atCape Town ,South Africa . Returning to Trinidad on 31 December, she operated fromBrazil ian ports toIceland until 4 March 1942, when she cleared Norfolk forSan Francisco .Pacific War
"Cimarron" reached San Francisco on 1 April 1942 and sailed the next day with the task force bound for the first air raid on
Tokyo on 18 April. With USS|Sabine|AO-25, they fueled the Fleet at sea before and after the raid, and returned to Pearl Harbor on 25 April. She sailed on 29 April, bound to join the force soon to join battle with the Japanese naval forces in theCoral Sea , but arrived after the battle to refuel destroyers atNoumea , and returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May. She cleared Pearl Harbor 28 May to fuel the force which defeated the Japanese in theBattle of Midway and returned 12 June, departing 7 July to support the operation in theSolomon Islands . Using Noumea as her principal base, "Cimarron" occasionally reloaded atSuva andEfate . After repairs at San Francisco in November 1942, she sailed for the forward area 18 December. She operated again out of Noumea supporting the final stages of theGuadalcanal action, then fueled out of Efate, carried cargo toSydney ,Australia , and returned to fueling atDumbea Bay in support of the occupation ofNew Georgia . She returned to San Francisco, in July 1943, and then made two trips from the west coast to Pearl Harbor."Cimarron" departed Pearl Harbor 29 September 1943 with the force which raided
Wake Island on 5–6 October, and returned to Pearl Harbor 16 October. She sailed once again 14 November to fuel in support of theGilbert Islands campaign, returning 1 December, and sailed toSan Pedro, California to reload 12 December to 4 January 1944. Clearing Pearl Harbor 13 January 1944, she supported theMarshall Islands operation and the February attacks onTruk fromMajuro until 6 June; the Marianas operation fromEniwetok until 26 August; and thePalau Islands operation fromUlithi .After a stateside overhaul from October through December 1944, "Cimarron" arrived at Ulithi 26 December 1944. From 27 December to 21 January 1945 she sailed to fuel the task force launching air attacks on
Indo-China and Philippine targets as part of theLuzon invasion, and put to sea again from 8 February to 22 March for air raids on theJapan ese home islands and the invasion ofIwo Jima . From 26 March to 23 May she sailed fromUlithi to fuel ships engaging in theOkinawa operation, and from 3 June shuttled between Ulithi and the areas from which the mighty carrier task forces launched the final series of raids upon the heartland of Japan. Ulithi remained her base as she supported the occupation until 10 September, when she anchored inTokyo Bay . Operations in theFar East continued until 4 February 1946, when she arrived atLong Beach Naval Shipyard , for overhaul.Korean War
Between July 1946 and June 1950, "Cimarron" ferried oil from the
Persian Gulf to naval bases in the Marianas and Marshalls, occasionally continuing on to the US West Coast. Her first tour of duty in theKorean war , from 6 July 1950 to 3 June 1951, found her fueling ships of the Taiwan Patrol at Okinawa, amphibious ships atKobe , and operating from Sasebo to the waters offKorea to fuel task forces. Several times she entered the heavily mined waters ofWonsan HarborSouth Korea to fuel the ships carrying out the lengthyblockade andbombardment of that key port.Returning to the west coast, she gave service as a training tanker until her second Korean tour, from 1 August to 10 December 1951. During this time she spent a month at
Taiwan fueling the ships on duty in theFormosa Straits , and made three voyages to Korean waters from Sasebo. During 1952, overhaul and training on the west coast preceded her third Korean war deployment from 9 April to 5 January 1953, when her duty was similar to that of her second. Her fourth tour of duty in theFar East was completed between 11 April and 27 November 1953."Cimarron" sailed to the
Far East again between 14 June 1954 and 8 February 1955, during which she served asflagship of theUnited Nations support group forOperation Passage to Freedom , the evacuation ofrefugee s fromCommunist North Vietnam . Her pattern of operations from that time into 1963 included highly effective support of the guardian U.S. 7th Fleet in its Far Eastern operations through deployments in 1955, 1956-1957, 1957-1958, 1958-1959, 1959, and 1960. As of 1963, she had the longest continuous commissioned service of any active ship in theUnited States Navy , belying her age as she continued to provide her essential support with outstanding skill and efficiency.Vietnam War
"Cimarron" continued her service into the
Vietnam War during Western Pacific deployments toSubic Bay between 1965 and 1967. But her claim to fame as the oldest US Navy ship in continuous active service ended abruptly after being side-swiped by the USS|Hornet|CV-12|6 during anunderway replenishment port-side approach along theSan Diego, California , coastline in September 1968. "Cimarron" was decommissioned and struck from theNavy List in October 1968 and sold for scrap in 1969.As a tribute to many dedicated crew members, "Cimarron's" key artifacts were donated to
Cimarron, New Mexico , which was located closest to the Cimarron River's headwaters atEagle Nest, New Mexico . Her ship's bell became the village high school's bell."Cimarron" received 10
battle stars forWorld War II service, seven for theKorean War , and 4 campaign stars for herVietnam War service.References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c9/cimarron-ii.htm
ee also
*USS "Houston" (CL-81) for other ships having same first CO.
*W. W. Behrens, Jr. - US Naval Academy Midshipman. : He may have influenced fleet oiler naming protocol with CNOWilliam D. Leahy , whose wife sponsored "Cimarron".External links
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/auxil/ao22.htm hazegray.org: USS "Cimarron"]
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-c/ao22.htm history.navy.mil: USS "Cimarron"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/19022.htm navsource.org: USS "Cimarron"]
* [http://www.military-network.com/ben/Associations_Detail.cfm?ID=7737 USS "Cimarron" (AO-22) Association]
* [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/wbehrens.htm Biography of "Cimarron's" first CO]
* [http://www.schneemann.com/ao22/ao22.htm schneemann.com: USS "Cimarron"]
** " [http://www.schneemann.com/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/disc9_srch.htm Cimarron Sea Stories"] (Search for: burkhart)
* [http://www.koreanwar.org/html/units/navy/uss_cimarron.htm Korean War Project Connections]
* [http://www.usni.org/oralhistory/r/richardson.htm usni.org: Vice Admiral David C. Richardson] (former "Cimarron" CO)
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