- USS Taluga (AO-62)
USS "Taluga" (AO-62) was a sclass2|Ashtabula|fleet oiler acquired by the
U.S. Navy duringWorld War II . She served her country primarily in thePacific Ocean Theatre of Operations, and providedpetroleum products where needed to combat ships. For performing this dangerous task in combat areas, she was awarded fourbattle star s during World War II, four during the Korean War, and sixcampaign star during the Vietnam War."Taluga" was laid down under a
Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 728) on23 December 1943 atSparrows Point, Maryland , by theBethlehem Steel Co.; launched on10 July 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs. Harvey Klemmer; delivered to the Navy atNorfolk, Virginia , on25 August 1944 ; and commissioned there on that same day, Comdr. Hans M. Mikkelsen in command.World War II Pacific Theatre operations
The oiler left Norfolk, Virginia, on
5 October ; stopped atAruba ,Netherlands West Indies , from the 9th to the 11th; and transited thePanama Canal on the night of 13 and14 October . She reachedPearl Harbor on the 26th and, two days later, continued on to the Marshalls. The oiler entered theEniwetok lagoon on26 November and exited on the 28th. On10 December , she reachedUlithi , which served as her base of operations until the end of World War II. For the next 11 months, "Taluga" was in and out of Ulithi picking up oil and other supplies there and carrying them to units of theU.S. Pacific Fleet . For the most part, her oil andaviation gasoline went to the ships of the Fast Carrier Task Force.Supporting Allied landings
During that time, she supported the carrier strikes and landings on
Luzon , theOkinawa landings, the strikes on Formosa, and the finalU.S. 3rd Fleet sweep of the Japanese home islands in the summer of 1945. Between April and July 1945, she spent much of her time in and around the anchorage atKerama Retto , just west of the southern end of Okinawa. There, on16 April , she encountered her greatest excitement of the war.Under attack by kamikaze planes
Shortly after dawn, ten kamikazes attacked her formation. One of them dove at the oiler, strafed her deck, and then made for her superstructure. The attacker careened off the ship's bridge and exploded through her forward well deck into a compartment adjacent to her tanks brimming with 300,000 gallons of aviation fuel. However, only 12 men were injured; and the oiler was soon back in action.
End-of-war activity
Soon after the final 3d Fleet sweep of
Hokkaidō andKyūshū , Japan capitulated. "Taluga", enteredTokyo Bay on26 August , 11 days following the cessation of hostilities, and took up duty as station oiler until early October. She then voyaged to Ulithi once more to refill her tanks and returned to Japan for duty as station oiler atYokosuka . On18 November , she departed that port to support ships engaged in the occupation ofChina andKorea . She visitedTsingtao andJinsen before returning toYokosuka, Japan , on6 December . On31 January 1946 , the oiler put to sea to return to theUnited States . She arrived inSan Pedro, California , on16 February and commenced a four-month yard period.East coast operations
Following overhaul, she sailed from San Pedro on
15 June for theFar East . For the next year, "Taluga" hauled oil from thePersian Gulf ports ofBahrain andRas Tanura to American bases in Japan and thePhilippines . On13 June 1947 , she got underway from Yokosuka, Japan, bound for home by the westward route. During that cruise, the oiler visitedSingapore and Bahrain before transiting theSuez Canal and stopping atTangier . On10 August , she entered port at Norfolk. Three weeks later, the oiler was back at sea and -- after an overnight stop atKey West, Florida --headed for theMediterranean . She loaded oil at Bahrain from30 September until2 October and, following visits toSuez and Tangier, returned to Norfolk on28 October . On4 November , she departedHampton Roads once more for a cruise to theMiddle East . She stopped at Ras Tanura from30 November to5 December ; then she continued eastward across theIndian Ocean and up through theSouth China Sea to Yokosuka, Japan, arriving there on the day afterChristmas . On the last day of 1947, "Taluga" departed Yokosuka and set a course across the Pacific toPuget Sound ,Washington . She reached her destination on13 January 1948 and began overhaul at the naval shipyard.Diversity of operations
"Taluga" completed overhaul and departed Puget Sound on
19 April . For the next three years, the oiler plied the oceans carrying oil to various American bases the world over. During that period, she made short runs between ports on both coasts as well as long voyages to ports overseas. She served with theU.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean on occasion and stopped frequently at the Persian Gulf ports, Ras Tanura and Bahrain. The oiler called most frequently at San Diego, San Pedro, Long Beach, andSeattle, Washington , on theU.S. West Coast ; Norfolk on the east coast; as well asGalveston, Texas ,Houston, Texas , Cristóbal,Panama ,Guantánamo Bay , and Aruba in the gulf and West Indies areas. On12 May 1951 , "Taluga" departed San Francisco and, during the next month and one-half, made two voyages betweenCalifornia andAlaska . On the first, she made a circuit fromAdak toDutch Harbor toKodiak before returning to San Francisco on31 May . The second Alaskan voyage took her to Adak and Kodiak and was completed on3 July . During the following months, she shuttled between California ports before departing the west coast for the Far East on30 July .Korean War operations
While "Taluga" was shuttling oil to bases throughout the world, trouble was brewing in the Far East. On the morning of
25 June 1950 , theNorth Korea n People's Army invaded theRepublic of Korea . American and other UN troops pushed the North Koreans back as far as theYalu River ; and, by winter, the war appeared to be all but over. However, the renewal of the war by the injection of communist Chinese troops required the United States to increase its flow of men and material to strengthen the sagging defenses. By the summer of 1951, "Taluga" was on her way again to join in another Asian war. She departed Long Beach late in July; stopped atMidway Island andKwajalein ; and reached Sasebo, Japan, on23 August . The oiler remained there for a month, then headed for the combat zone on22 September . Operating from Sasebo at the southwestern tip ofKyūshū , "Taluga" supported theblockade and siege ofWonsan andSongj in almost until the end of hostilities. She ranged up and down the eastern coast of Korea supplying oil and aviation fuel to the warships conducting operations along the coast. From March to September 1952, she returned to the west coast and conducted operations between San Diego and Long Beach. She returned to Korean waters in October and, after almost three months of operations in support of UN naval forces, moved south toTaiwan where she visitedKeelung andKaohsiung and supported theTaiwan Strait Patrol .Peacetime deployment
In April 1953, "Taluga" sailed from Yokosuka, Japan, via Pearl Harbor, and arrived in San Pedro, California, early in May. She operated along the west coast, visiting San Diego and Long Beach, until mid-August. On the 17th, she got underway from Long Beach on the first peacetime deployment with the
U.S. 7th Fleet in a series which lasted until the escalation of theVietnam War brought the return of a substantial American presence back to the Asian continent.Tachen Islands evacuation support
Interspersed among the routine operations of those deployments were several operations of note—ones which might have presaged the increasing American involvement in Southeast Asia. During the winter of 1954 and 1955, the oiler participated in the evacuation of
Chinese Nationalists from theTachen Islands located just off the mainland. In January 1955, she took station offHenriette Passe , nearHaiphong , to fuel the transport and relief supply ships evacuating refugees from strife-tornNorth Vietnam during the latter stages ofOperation Passage to Freedom , instituted in the wake of theGeneva agreements which followed the French defeat atDien Bien Phu .Vietnam operations
Soon thereafter, "Taluga" resumed a series of deployments with the 7th Fleet for another 10 years. In 1965, the United States began expanding its direct participation in the war in
Vietnam . "Taluga's" remaining deployments, therefore, were wartime deployments in or near a combat zone. During the ensuing six years, "Taluga" deployed to the western Pacific six times.On each occasion, she saw service in the war zone along the Vietnamese coast replenishing units of the 7th Fleet operating off the coast. She fueled the larger units as they supported the large carriers conducting strikes inland, and she offered support to the smaller units engaged in
Operation Market Time , the interdiction of North Vietnamese coastal logistics and infiltration. Only once did she depart from her schedule of western Pacific deployments alternated with west coast operations and yard overhauls. That occasion came at the end of her1970 deployment when she sailed south of theequator toAustralia andNew Zealand , where she joined in LONGEX-70, the New Zealand annual maritime exercise.Converted to MSTS experimental use
"Taluga" completed her final deployment as a commissioned Navy ship at Long Beach on
13 November 1971 . She conducted operations along the coast for another six months. On4 May 1972 , the oiler was decommissioned and turned over to theMilitary Sealift Command to participate in a pilot program designed to test the feasibility of reducing the number of Navy men serving in oilers. The operation, namedOperation Charger Log II , was an unqualified success. For the next three and one-half years, her crew—made up of 105 civilians and 16 military men—maneuvered her through 875 underway replenishments in support of the 7th Fleet in the Far East. In late February 1976, she cleared the western Pacific forOakland, California , where she was placed in a ready-reserve status incident to overhaul. "USNS Taluga" completed overhaul in October 1976 and was then reactivated as a fleet support ship assigned to theU.S. 3rd Fleet in the eastern Pacific. She served in that capacity into October 1979.Final decommissioning
She was placed out of service (date unknown) and placed out of service (date unknown). She was struck from the
Naval Vessel Register ,21 February 1992 , and transferred to theMaritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in theNational Defense Reserve Fleet ,Suisun Bay ,Benecia, California . Her title was transferred toMARAD on1 May 1999 . Her ultimate fate is not recorded.Awards
Taluga earned four battle stars during World War II:
*
Leyte operation
* Luzon operation
* Okinawa Gunto operation
* 3rd Fleet operations against JapanDuring the Korean War:
* UN Summer-Fall Offensive
* Second Korean Winter
* Korean Defense Summer-Fall1952
* Third Korean WinterDuring Vietnam:
* Vietnam Defense
* Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969
* Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970
* Sanctuary Counteroffensive
* Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VII
* Consolidation IReferences
See also
*
List of United States Navy ships
*Petroleum tanker External links
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/#Anchor-Editoria-14954 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/19/19062.htm NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - AO-62 Taluga]
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