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USNS Truckee (T-AO 147)

USNS TRUCKEE was the fifth NEOSHO - class fleet oiler. The ship transfered to the Military Sealift Command on January 30, 1980. Decommissioned in 1991, the TRUCKEE was stricken from the Navy list on July 18, 1994, and was subsequently berthed with the James River Reserve Fleet, Fort Eustis, Va., awaiting final disposal. Sold for scrapping in July 2008, the TRUCKEE was towed to the scrapyard on August 6, 2008.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USNS TRUCKEE. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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• Click here to see which USNS TRUCKEE memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS / USNS TRUCKEE Cruise Books:

• Mediterranean Cruise Book 1960
• Mediterranean Cruise Book 1962

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Accidents aboard USS / USNS TRUCKEE:

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USS / USNS TRUCKEE History:

USS TRUCKEE was a NEOSHO-class fleet oiler built at New York Shipbuilding, Camden, New Jersey, for Atlantic Fleet logistics duty. She was laid down in December 1953, launched on March 19, 1955, and commissioned on November 18, 1955. Assigned to Service Squadron 4, she began her career hauling fresh water to Bermuda in May 1956, then crossed the Atlantic in June-July on a midshipman training deployment that included Copenhagen and Sheerness. On September 19, 1956, she sailed from Norfolk to act as flagship and logistics ship for a hydrographic survey group working near Ascension Island and Fernando de Noronha through October, before resuming North Atlantic and Caribbean operations in 1957 and spring 1958. That summer she again visited European waters, calling at Portuguese, Norwegian, and British ports, and in August 1959 supported President Eisenhower's transatlantic flight, with a brief stop at Greenock, Scotland, before returning to the Virginia Capes.

By early 1960, TRUCKEE had settled into the pattern that defined her next two decades: alternating Mediterranean deployments with Second Fleet duties. After a summer 1960 midshipman cruise she steamed north for NATO exercises inside the Arctic Circle, then shifted to the Sixth Fleet where between November 1960 and February 1961 she made more than 160 at-sea fuelings. On February 10, 1961, a Navy photograph captured her simultaneously refueling the carrier USS SARATOGA (CVA 60) and the destroyer USS STEINAKER (DDR 863) in the Mediterranean, a textbook two-station UNREP at the height of carrier task-group operations.

Her February 1962 Mediterranean deployment brought a broader command role: TRUCKEE served as flagship for Commander, Service Force, Sixth Fleet. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in the autumn of 1962, she shifted to Atlantic tasking as flagship for Commander, Service Squadron 4 and in 50 days of "quarantine" operations fueled 152 ships - sustaining the surface cordon that enforced U.S. policy from October into November. She returned to routine Atlantic workups in 1963 and was recognized with the Golden "E" for five consecutive Battle Efficiency Awards, then in 1964 joined NATO exercises TEAMWORK and MASTERSTROKE in the North Atlantic before a 10-week yard period at Baltimore to add staff berthing and communications for her frequent flagship employment.

On March 1, 1965, TRUCKEE departed Norfolk for an eight-month Sixth Fleet deployment serving again as Service Force flagship. She participated in major allied exercises, fueled more than 400 ships, and made liberty calls in five countries before returning to Norfolk on November 6, 1965. After an extended overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard through late 1966, she completed Guantanamo Bay refresher training in January 1967 and sailed back to the Mediterranean in late March. On the morning of June 5, 1967, as the Six-Day War erupted, she was alongside fueling the carrier USS AMERICA (CVA 66), then remained with Sixth Fleet units during the crisis before returning to Norfolk in September and joining NATO exercises that November.

Routine turned hazardous the next year. In the first half of 1968, TRUCKEE alternated upkeep with Caribbean cruises. On June 12, 1968, while defueling the anti-submarine carrier USS WASP (CVS 18) off the U.S. East Coast, WASP suffered a casualty and the two ships collided. TRUCKEE took damage requiring repairs at Norfolk in July-August. She resumed deployment in September 1968, fueling 158 ships, visiting seven countries, and pumping about 35 million gallons of fuel before returning to the United States in April 1969 for Atlantic and Caribbean operations and a subsequent overhaul.

TRUCKEE sailed again for the Mediterranean in April 1970, embarking the Sixth Fleet Service Force commander at Rota. From September 9 to October 8, 1970, she supported the naval posture off Israel during the Jordanian Crisis, pumping around the clock on 27 of 30 days at sea. The ship later received the Meritorious Unit Commendation for this performance. Returning to Norfolk on November 18, 1970, she began converting her plant to Navy distillate fuel. Through 1971, she ranged from Nova Scotia to the Virgin Islands, joined NATO exercise ROUGH RIDE in June, and supported a NATO sea-power demonstration off Norfolk in September. She deployed again to the Mediterranean in February-November 1972, with annual totals near 50 million gallons pumped, and returned in October-November 1973 for contingency logistics during the Yom Kippur War - sortying from Palma de Mallorca on October 7, remaining in the eastern Med until November 18, and delivering roughly 25 million gallons amid intense allied operations. An extended overhaul occupied much of 1974, completing in January 1975. That summer she supported NATIONAL WEEK and DAWN PATROL in the eastern Mediterranean. On August 14, 1975, a Navy photograph shows TRUCKEE refueling USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) and the frigate USS THOMAS C. HART (FF 1092) while operating with Task Force 60.

Second Fleet duty dominated 1976 with refresher training at Guantanamo in May and Puerto Rico operations in July. She deployed to the Mediterranean again on March 31, 1977, but on April 20, 1977, while conducting underway replenishment in the Tyrrhenian Sea, she and the carrier USS INDEPENDENCE (CV 62) collided. There were no reported injuries, and TRUCKEE completed the six-month tour and returned to Norfolk on October 21, 1977. In 1978, she made four Caribbean periods between January 6 and July 11, then from August 25 to October 30 operated in the North Atlantic with port visits to Rotterdam, Kiel, and Lisbon. Photographs place her underway with Standing NATO Force Atlantic on March 6, 1978 and fueling USS SUMTER (LST 1181) during NORTHERN WEDDING Phase II on September 1, 1978 - both emblematic of her role sustaining allied forces from Norwegian to Iberian waters.

She continued local Atlantic operations into 1979 and ended commissioned-Navy service on November 8, 1979. After sailing from Norfolk on January 21, 1980 to MSC Headquarters in Bayonne, New Jersey, she was decommissioned and transferred to Military Sealift Command on January 30, 1980, reclassified USNS TRUCKEE (T-AO 147) and demilitarized, with her mission unchanged but her crew shifted to primarily civilian mariners.

Under MSC she remained a familiar oiler on the U.S. East Coast and in the Atlantic. On September 22, 1986, while conducting UNREP off Virginia, the destroyer tender USS YELLOWSTONE (AD 41) collided with TRUCKEE, causing minor superstructure damage to the oiler and a small hull gash to the tender. No injuries were reported. As the Cold War ended and U.S. operations surged to Southwest Asia, a photograph dated August 17, 1990 shows USNS TRUCKEE preparing for replenishment with ships transiting to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation DESERT SHIELD, illustrating her inclusion in the sealift and prewar naval surge to the Arabian Gulf. She left active MSC service in 1994 and was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on July 18, 1997.

Disposition followed the standard auxiliary path of the era. Transferred to the Maritime Administration on May 1, 1999, she entered the James River Reserve Fleet at Fort Eustis, Virginia, remaining in lay-up until sale for dismantlement. On August 6, 2008, TRUCKEE departed the reserve fleet under tow to Bay Bridge Enterprises for scrapping, closing more than five decades from launch to final disposal.

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