USS Patoka (AO-9)
Patoka with Shenandoah moored alongside
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Patoka |
| Namesake: | Patoka River |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia |
| Laid down: | 17 December 1918 |
| Launched: | 26 July 1919 |
| Acquired: | 3 September 1919 |
| Commissioned: | 13 October 1919 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 August 1933 |
| Recommissioned: | 10 November 1939 |
| Decommissioned: | 1 July 1946 |
| Struck: | 31 July 1946 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 15 March 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Patoka Replenishment oiler |
| Displacement: | 16,800 long tons (17,070 t) |
| Length: | 477 ft 10 in (145.64 m) |
| Beam: | 60 ft (18 m) |
| Draft: | 26 ft 2 in (7.98 m) |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Complement: | 168 |
| Armament: |
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USS Patoka (AO–9/AV–6/AG–125) was a fleet oiler made famous as a tender for the airships Shenandoah (ZR-1), Los Angeles (ZR-3) and Akron (ZRS-4). It was also notable in that its height (177 feet (54 m)) figured prominently in the design of Rainbow Bridge in Texas (the bridge design required that the Patoka, then the tallest ship in the Naval fleet, could sail under it; however, it never did).
Named for the Patoka River, Patoka was laid down on 17 December 1918 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia and launched on 26 July 1919. Acquired by the Navy from the USSB on 3 September 1919, and commissioned on 13 October 1919, Commander Ernest F. Robinson in command.
Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Patoka departed Norfolk on 4 November 1919 for Port Arthur, Texas, where she loaded fuel oil and sailed for Scotland, arriving on the Clyde on 6 December. She returned to Port Arthur for more oil and got under way on 9 January 1920 for the Adriatic Sea, arriving at Split on 12 February. Returning to the United States in April Patoka went back to the Near East, arriving at Istanbul in June. After duty in the Adriatic and Mediterranean she returned to the United States, and served on both the east and west coasts until 1924 when she was selected as a tender for the rigid airship USS Shenandoah
A mooring mast some 125 feet above the water was constructed; additional accommodations both for the crew of Shenandoah and for the men who handled and supplied the airship were added; facilities for the helium, gasoline, and other supplies necessary for Shenandoah were built; as well as handling and stowage facilities for three seaplanes. This work by the Norfolk Navy Yard was completed shortly after 1 July 1924. Patoka retained her classification of AO–9.
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