USS Neches (AO-47)
_underway_near_Subic_Bay_on_18_February_1970.jpg)
USS Neches underway near Subic Bay on 18 February 1970
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Neches |
| Namesake: | Neches River |
| Builder: | Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Laid down: | 12 June 1941 |
| Launched: | 11 October 1941 |
| Acquired: | 20 July 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 16 September 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 July 1950 |
| Recommissioned: | 3 January 1951 |
| Decommissioned: | June 1955 |
| Recommissioned: | 24 November 1961 |
| Decommissioned: | 1970 |
| Struck: | 1 October 1970 |
| Honors and awards: |
9 battle stars (World War II) |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping, 1 December 1973 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Mattaponi class oiler |
| Type: | MARAD T2-A |
| Tonnage: | 16,400 DWT |
| Displacement: | 21,750 tons |
| Length: | 520 ft (160 m) |
| Beam: | 68 ft (21 m) |
| Draft: | 29 ft 11.5 in (9.131 m) |
| Depth: | 37 ft (11 m) |
| Installed power: | 12,000 shp (8,900 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,200 nmi (13,300 km; 8,300 mi) |
| Capacity: | 133,000 bbl (~18,100 t) |
| Complement: | 242 |
| Armament: |
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USS Neches (AO-47) was a Kennebec-class oiler in the United States Navy during World War II and the Vietnam War. She was the second U.S. Navy ship named for the Neches River in eastern Texas.
The ship was laid down as type T2-A tanker SS Aekay, M.C. hull 148 on 12 June 1941 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. of Chester, Pennsylvania; launched on 11 October 1941; sponsored by Miss Barbara Vickery of Washington, D.C.; acquired by the Navy on 20 July 1941; and commissioned as Neches on 16 September 1942.
After shakedown off the Atlantic Coast she steamed for San Pedro, California via the Panama Canal. Her first wartime operations took her to Guadalcanal, where she fueled various fleet units. From 28 November she serviced ships out of Nouméa, New Caledonia. She shifted operations to Havannah Harbor, Efate Island, New Hebrides on 22 January 1943, and then steamed for San Pedro, California on 6 March, arriving there the 21st.
Four days later she was en route to Pearl Harbor to deliver fuel, arriving on 30 March. The next week she was back at San Pedro and, following a ten-day availability there she got underway with Pennsylvania (BB-38), Nassau (CVE-16), and six screening destroyers en route to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Arriving on 1 May, she fueled thirteen ships before she steamed to the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 9 May for two days of repairs. She then returned to Dutch Harbor.
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