- USS Mount Baker (AE-4)
USS "Mount Baker" (AE‑4), originally named USS "Kilauea" (AE-4), was acquired by the Navy
14 November 1940 while building byTampa Shipbuilding Co. ,Tampa, Fla. , as SS "Surprise"; delivered toAlabama Drydock & Shipbuilding Co. , for conversion to Type C2; and commissioned16 May 1941 , Capt. W. I. Causey in command."Kilauea"’s dangerous, difficult, and vital service during
World War II was to carry ammunition to ships and bases and to issue it to the users. She began operating17 June 1941 out of Norfolk, serving combatants on the east coast, in theCaribbean , and building up the base at NS Argentia, Newfoundland. Aside from necessary overhaul, and a period as station ammunition ship in the Norfolk area October 1942‑January 1943, she continued American theater duty into 1943."Kilauea" was renamed "Mount Baker"
17 March 1943 to avoid confusion with a similarly named ship. On8 June , she sailed with ammunition for theMediterranean , and until6 November supplied ships inOran ,Algiers ,Arzeu ,Bizerte , andPalermo . Returning to Norfolk for local duty, "Mount Baker" then sailed29 April to arm ships in theBritish Isles ports from which the Normandy invasion was to be staged. Returning to Norfolk23 June , "Mount Baker" prepared for another mission to the Mediterranean, and upon its completion30 September sailed directly for thePanama Canal andUlithi , where she served as station ammunition ship from December 1944 to June 1945. During this time she conducted experiments in at‑sea replenishment with a battleship, a cruiser, and a destroyer."Mount Baker" departed Ulithi
3 June for overhaul atSan Francisco , still in progress at the close of the year. She sailed in time to bring Christmas mail to occupation forces in thePhilippines , then began the long task of bringing back to theUnited States unused ammunition that had been stockpiled at the variousPacific bases in anticipation of the planned invasion ofJapan . She decommissioned in January 1947 and was placed in reserve atSan Diego, Calif. With the rapid expansion of the fleet required by the Korean conflict, "Mount Baker" recommissioned
5 December 1951 , Capt.Richard Mueller Nixon in command. She sailed18 February 1952 to supply ammunition to U.S. and other U.N. forces fighting theNorth Korea n Communists, serving in the war zone from9 March to8 November , and then returning to San Diego. On12 January 1953 , she sortied from San Francisco with a cruiser‑destroyer force for the largest, to that time, postwar training operation in the Pacific. Early in February she sailed for Sasebo, Japan, to resume combat duty. From March until the Armistice in July, "Mount Baker" gave efficient and essential service in the cause of a free Korea. Returning to San Diego early in the fall, she provided the fleet primarily with training ammunition, was overhauled, and10 March 1954 sailed to support the 7th Fleet in operations off Japan and the Philippines.In 1955, and almost every year thereafter, "Mount Baker" made similar deployments to the Far East, usually of 8 months duration. Stateside periods between were given to necessary overhaul and training, as well as providing training in underway replenishment to other ships of the fleet. When she left San Diego
28 October 1964 , she was bound for duty replenishing 7th Fleet ships operating off the coast ofVietnam in the struggle against North Vietnamese communism. She also brought ammunition to ships of theTaiwan patrol and bases in Japan and the Philippines during this and her other recent deployments.Returning to
Port Chicago, Calif. , in the spring of 1965, "Mount Baker" prepared for a year‑long deployment for which she sailed5 January 1966 . During much of this tour in the Far East, "Mount Baker" was on station with carriers off Vietnam, providing ammunition for aircraft flying strikes onNorth Vietnam , and against enemy concentrations inSouth Vietnam . After overhaul atHunter’s Point Naval Shipyard , "Mount Baker" sailed once more for the Far East28 September 1967 to aid the United States fleet well into 1968. As 1969 began, she once again prepared to give service whose precision and quality denies her age as the oldest ammunition ship in the Navy."Mount Baker" received four
battle star s for Korean service.References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m15/mount_baker.htm
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