USS Cossatot (AO-77)
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| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | USS Cossatot |
| Builder: | Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Laid down: | 24 October 1942 |
| Launched: | 28 February 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 20 April 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 March 1946 |
| In service: | 1947 |
| Out of service: | 1974 |
| Honors and awards: |
2 battle stars (World War II) |
| Fate: | Sold, 2 September 1975 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Suamico-class fleet replenishment oiler |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 523 ft 6 in (159.56 m) |
| Beam: | 68 ft (21 m) |
| Draft: | 30 ft (9.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | Turbo-electric, single screw, 8,000 hp (5,966 kW) |
| Speed: | 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
4 × Elco PT boats |
| Capacity: | 140,000 barrels (22,000 m3) |
| Complement: | 251 |
| Armament: |
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USS Cossatot (AO-77) was a United States Navy World War II Type T2-SE-A1 tanker which served as a fleet oiler. Launched as SS Fort Necessity on 28 February 1943 by the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. W. Taylor; acquired by the Navy on 17 March 1943; and commissioned on 20 April 1943 Commander P. G. Beck, USNR, in command. It was named for a river in Arkansas.
Sailing from Norfolk to Baytown, Texas, to load kerosene, gasoline, and fuel oil in July 1943, Cossatot sailed from Norfolk on 6 August to fuel convoy escorts during their passage to Casablanca, returning to Norfolk on 14 September. She made seven such voyages from Norfolk to the North African ports of Casablanca, Oran, and Bizerte between 4 October 1943 and 30 November 1944.
Cossatot put to sea from Norfolk again on 28 December 1944 bound for the Pacific. She loaded diesel oil, fuel oil, and gasoline at Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 30 January 1943. She operated from Saipan from 12 February fueling ships of the 6th Fleet until 3 March, when she began operations from Ulithi. Cossatot sortied as a part of TG 60.8, the logistics group for the 6th Fleet, for operations off Iwo Jima from 13 March to 12 April. On 16 April she sailed with her group to conduct fueling operations off newly assaulted Okinawa. On 28 April she downed a suicide plane as it dove toward her, and remained on this duty unscathed until 4 May when she arrived at Ulithi to reload. From 26 May until the end of the War, Cossatot operated out of Ulithi fueling various units of fast carrier TF 38, engaged in the final strikes against the Japanese homeland.
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