USS Pawcatuck (AO-108)

Pawcatuck refueling USS Doyle (FFG-39) in 1990
History
United States
Name:	USS Pawcatuck
Namesake:	The Pawcatuck River in Connecticut and Rhode Island
Builder:	Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania
Laid down:	22 March 1945
Launched:	19 February 1946
Commissioned:	10 May 1946
Decommissioned:	15 July 1975
In service:	1975
Out of service:	1991
Reclassified:	T-AO-108 after 15 July 1975 decommissioning (originally classified AO-108)
Struck:	21 September 1991
Fate:	Sold for scrapping 21 September 2005
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ashtabula-class oilerT3–S2–A3 type
Type:	Fleet replenishment oiler
Displacement:	As built: 7,423 tons (light); 25,480 tons (full load) After "jumboization": 12,840 tons (light); 33,987 tons (full load)
Length:	As built: 553 ft (169 m) After "jumboization": 644 ft (196 m)
Beam:	75 ft (23 m)
Draft:	As built: 32 ft (9.8 m) After "jumboization": 34 ft 9 in (10.59 m)
Installed power:	30,400 hp (22,700 kW)
Propulsion:	geared turbines, four boilers, twin screws
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity:	146,000 barrels (23,200 m3) of fuel oil
Complement:	304 (as USS Pawcatuck)
Crew:	108 civilians plus a U.S. Navy detachment (as USNS Pawcatuck)
Armament:	As built: 1 × 5 in (130 mm) 38-caliber gun 4 × 3 in (76 mm) 50-caliber guns 8 × 40-mm antiaircraft guns (4 x 2) 8 × 20-mm antiaircraft guns (4 x 2) After "jumboization": None
Notes:	"Jumboization" involved the lengthening of Pawcatuck's hull and installation of additional cargo capacity during 1965–66.

USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) was an T3 Ashtabula class replenishment oiler tanker that served in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1975, then transferred to the Military Sealift Command to continue in non-commissioned service with a civilian crew as United States Naval Ship USNS Pawcatuck (T-AO-108). She was the only United States Navy ship to bear the name Pawcatuck.

USS Pawcatuck (AO–108) was laid down under Maritime Commission contract on 22 March 1945 as Maritime Commission hull 2704 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania. She was launched on 19 February 1946, sponsored by Miss Nancy Gatch, and commissioned on 10 May 1946, Captain Cecil G. McKinney, USNR, in command.

After shakedown, Pawcatuck was assigned the task of transporting petroleum products between various United States Navy facilities and ports on the United States Gulf Coast, in the Caribbean and along the United States East Coast. In the summer of 1947, she joined the United States Sixth Fleet, operating in the Mediterranean Sea for her first overseas tour. From 1948 to 1961, Pawcatuck operated on a rotational schedule between the United States Atlantic Fleet and the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, participating in U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercises, United States Naval Reserve and United States Naval Academy midshipman cruises, and courtesy visits to foreign ports, and serving as flagship of Commander Service Squadron 2. She supported American forces during the Lebanon Crisis of 1958.