USS Ponchatoula (AO-148)
USNS Ponchatoula (T-AO-148) at sea
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Ponchatoula |
| Ordered: | 28 January 1952 |
| Builder: | New York Shipbuilding, Camden, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 1 March 1954 |
| Launched: | 9 July 1955 |
| Commissioned: | 12 January 1956 |
| Struck: | 31 August 1992 |
| Honors and awards: |
12 campaign stars (Vietnam) |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Neosho-class oiler |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 655 ft (200 m) |
| Beam: | 86 ft (26 m) |
| Draft: | 35 ft (11 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Capacity: | 180,000 bbl (29,000 m3) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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USS Ponchatoula (AO-148) was one of six Neosho-class fleet oilers built for the United States Navy, in service from 1956 to 1992, and named for the Ponchatoula Creek which rises in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, and flows into the Natalbany River, west of Ponchatoula, Louisiana. She was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
Ponchatoula was laid down at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, on 1 March 1954, launched on 9 July 1955, sponsored by Mrs. I. N. Kiland, and commissioned on 12 January 1956 with Capt. William R. Wilson in command.
After fitting out at Philadelphia, Ponchatoula, the sixth of a class designed to combine speed and large cargo capacity for rapid underway replenishment over extended operational periods, got underway for the Pacific. Arriving at Long Beach, California, on 10 March, she underwent shakedown and training exercises off the California coast and in September deployed to the Far East. En route she assisted SS Venus, a Panamanian merchantman lying helpless on the fringes of two typhoons. Taking Venus in tow on the 26th, Ponchatoula was relieved of her tow on the 28th, and continued on to Sasebo to join the 7th Fleet.
Rotated regularly to the western Pacific, Ponchatoula was homeported at Pearl Harbor in early 1958 and received her introduction to support under hostile conditions while operating with 7th Fleet units during the Quemoy-Matsu Crisis in the fall of that year.
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