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N7KTP > NAVNET 04.03.06 23:41l 103 Lines 6205 Bytes #999 (0) @ ALLUSA
BID : 50564_N7FSP
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Subj: USS ALLAGASH
Path: ON0AR<ON0AR<I0TVL<HS1LMV<N9ZZK<K7EK<N7FSP
Sent: 060304/1522z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Oiler Allagash services a post-World War II Atlantic fleeet
By Fred Miles Watson - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
Named after a river in Piscataquis and Aroostook Counties in
northern Maine that flows into the St. John River, the fleet oiler
Allagash was built by the Bethlehem Steel Co., of Sparrows Point, Md.,
under a Maritime Commission contract. It was acquired by the Navy on a
loan-charter basis on Aug. 21, 1945 and commissioned the same day with
Lt. Cmdr. Howard C. Plummer, USNR at the helm.
The Cimmeron-class ship's propulsion consisted of geared turbines
and twin screws, producing 30,400 shaft horsepower and a top speed of
just above 18 knots. Displacing 25,400 tons fully loaded, Allagash was
553-feet long and pulled a draft of 32 feet, four-inches. A total of
304 Sailors served in Allagash which was out-fitted with one single 5-
inch .38 Caliber dual purpose gun mount, four single three-inch .30
Caliber dual purpose gun mounts, four twin 40mm and four twin 20mm
antiaircraft gun mounts. Allagash had a petroleum cargo capacity of
146,000 barrels.
Departing Baltimore on Aug. 27, 1945 for shakedown training in
Chesapeake Bay, she completed this cruise--interrupted an availability
at the Norfolk Navy Yard between Sept. 4-15. Later in the month, she
put to sea from Norfolk on Sept. 28, bound for the West Indies.
Operating from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the ship spent the next 10 weeks
carrying fuel oil between ports on the Gulf coast of the United States
and bases in the West Indies. She also conducted underway refueling
exercises before returning to Norfolk on Dec. 10 and remained there for
the rest of the year.
At the beginning of 1946, the ship was assigned to the Naval
Transportation Service and began regular voyages carrying oil from Gulf
coast and West Indian oil ports to cities along the East Coast. By
August 1947 her itinerary included Persian Gulf oil ports, making two
round-trip voyages between the United States and the island of Bahrain
between August 1947 and April 1948. During the summer of 1948, Allagash
began deployments with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.
Returning to the East Coast of the United States in September 1948,
she resumed runs between the Atlantic seaboard and oil ports in the
West Indies and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
Allagash did not deploy to the Mediterranean again until 1951 when
she operated with the 6th Fleet between June and September. The next
overseas deployment came in the summer of 1952 when she sailed to
northern European ports during a training cruise for midshipmen. That
fall, the oiler participated in the NATO exercise "Operation
Mainbrace."
In the spring of 1953, the ship was once more deployed to the
Mediterranean. Operations along the eastern seaboard occupied her time
during the latter part of 1953 and the first five months of 1954. Early
in June 1954, Allagash sailed for Europe again on the first of two
midshipmen training cruises conducted that summer.
In mid-January 1955, she completed a three-month overhaul and
embarked upon three weeks of refresher training in the West Indies.
During the latter part of February and the first week in March, the
oiler took part in the annual "Springboard" exercise in the West Indies
and sailed to the Mediterranean early in May and returned to the United
States at the beginning of October. Emergency repairs kept her out of
operation in November and December.
In the 10 years between the beginning of 1956 and the beginning of
1966, Allagash continued to conduct operations similar to those during
her first decade of service. She made six deployments to the 6th Fleet
in the Mediterranean Sea, participated in NATO exercises, and made
midshipmen cruises. When not deployed overseas, the oiler conducted
East Coast and West Indian missions, including the annual "Springboard"
fleet exercise as well as type training, refresher training, and
independent ship exercises. During November and December of 1962, she
earned the Armed Forces Expeditionary medal for providing logistics
support to the warships enforcing President John F. Kennedy's "quaran-
tine" of Cuba.
The year 1966 began as had many of the previous 20. She had
returned from a Mediterranean deployment late in 1965. February 1966
brought the usual "Springboard" exercises in the West Indies followed
by several weeks of operations out of Newport, R.I. On June 21 Allagash
departed Newport with orders to report to the South Atlantic. During
that cruise, she visited Port Elizabeth in South Africa and Rio de
Janeiro in Brazil, before returning to Newport on Aug. 18. After a
period of post-deployment stand down and local operations, the oiler
began a regular overhaul at Boston in mid-November.
With repairs completed on April 30, 1967 Allagash resumed
perations out of Newport. On Aug. 10, the ship was again deployed to
the Mediterranean. Allagash returned to Newport on 4 February 1968 and,
after standdown, participated annual "Springboard" exercises and
conducted local operations from her base at Newport. Between April and
June of that year, she took part in exercises in the northern Atlantic
during which she also visited northern European port. She returned to
the Rhode Island coast on June 14 and visited Melville and Newport
until July 19. During the remainder of the year, Allagash completed
missions off the Coasts of Florida and New England. On Jan. 6, 1969,
the oilier departed Newport on its final assignment with the 6th Fleet
in the Mediterranean and returned to Newport on July 27. She spent her
final year of operating off the East Coast of the United States.
Allagash was placed in commission, in reserve, at Boston on Sept.
2, 1970 to prepare for inactivation. Allagash was decommissioned on
Dec. 21, 1970.
While still remaining Navy property, Allagash was turned over to
the custody of the Maritime Administration in November 1971 at its
James River Va., facility. Her name was struck from the Navy list on
June 1, 1973 and sold to the Union Minerals & Alloys Corp. on March 22,
1976 for scrapping.
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