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General Characteristics Crew List Memorabilia Cruise Books Notes of interest Accidents aboard the Ship About the Cargo Handling History Image Gallery to end of page |  |
USS SACRAMENTO was the lead ship of the SACRAMENTO - class and was the first ship in the Navy to combine the functions of three logistic support ships in one hull - fleet oiler (AO), ammunition ship (AE), and refrigerated stores ship (AF). USS SACRAMENTO was the third ship to bear the name of the capital city and river in the State of California. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on October 1, 2004, the SACRAMENTO was subsequently laid-up at the Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance Office, Bremerton, Wash. On April 13, 2007, the SACRAMENTO was sold for scrapping to Esco Marine at Brownsville, Texas. The ship was subsequently towed there.
| General Characteristics: | Awarded: August 8, 1960 |
| Keel laid: June 30, 1961 | |
| Launched: September 14, 1963 | |
| Commissioning: March 14, 1964 | |
| Decommissioned: October 1, 2004 | |
| Builder: Puget Sound NSY, Bremerton, Wash. | |
| Propulsion System: four V2M 600 PSI Propulsion Boilers | |
| Propellers: two | |
| Length: 794 feet (242 meters) | |
| Beam: 107 feet (32.6 meters) | |
| Draft: 38 feet (11.6 meters) | |
| Displacement: approx. 53,000 tons | |
| Speed: 26 knots | |
| Aircraft: two | |
| Armament: one | |
| Crew: 48 Officers, 678 Enlisted |
back to top go to the end of the pageback to top go to the end of the pageCrew List:
This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS SACRAMENTO. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.
back to top go to the end of the pageback to top go to the end of the pageUSS SACRAMENTO Cruise Books:
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Notes of Interest:
When built, SACRAMENTO carried more fuel than the largest oiler and more ammunition than the largest ammunition ship in the U.S. Navy as well as a significant portion of the supplies that a stores ships could carry. Later, SACRAMENTO carried (95% fully loaded) 5.2 million gallons of rnarine distillate fuel and 2.7 million gallons of aviation jet fuel. SACRAMENTO was also capable of carrying over 6 thousand tons of all types of ammunition, 300 tons of refrigerated provisions, 500 tons of dry provisions and 150 tons of other supplies. While not normally loaded, SACRAMENTO carried 220 different items (dry and refrigerated) and 120 other items when deployed.
back to top go to the end of the pageAccidents aboard USS SACRAMENTO:
| Date | Where | Events |
|---|---|---|
| June 5, 1995 | Persian Gulf | USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) and the USS SACRAMENTO collide during an underway replenishment. The LINCOLN is able to continue on her mission while the SACRAMENTO is heading for Jebel Ali, U.A.E., for several weeks of repairs. |
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About the cargo handling:
SACRAMENTO was originally equipped with the first Fast Automated Shuttle Transfer (FAST) system to handle ammunition and stores. FAST relied on the use of cranes to move missiles and cargo containers on weather decks and hoists to move cargo from the 01 level to the main deck. In 1977 SACRAMENTO's elevators were modified to lift cargo directly to the 01 level and the FAST cranes, transfer rails, and hoists were removed. The new system allowed cargo to be moved from hold to elevator to transfer station using standard electric fork truck and was far less prone to equipment malfunctions. In addition the modern Standard Tensioned Replenishment Alongside Method (STREAM) unrep system was installed.
Fuel was delivered through four double and two single hose (STREAM) fuel lines which were fed by large turbine driven cargo fuel pumps capable of supplying fuel at 40 to 120 psi at a maximum flow rate of three-thousand gallons per minute per pump used. This process is termed FAS for Fueling At Sea.
Cargo, ammunition and supplies were moved vertically over seven decks (weather deck, cargo handling and staging deck and five levels of cargo holds) by seven different elevators. Elevators one through six serviced the four ammunition holds and number seven elevator and a package conveyor serviced the provisions hold (hold five). The supplies were moved horizontally by a fleet of 33 fork trucks of various types and sizes which allowed breakout, positioning and stowage of cargo and ammunition with efficiency.
Cargo was delivered by four heavy and three standard lift STREAM cargo stations or by a detachment of two
back to top go to the end of the pageUSS SACRAMENTO History:
USS SACRAMENTO, the first of the Navy's fast combat support ships, was laid down on 30 June 1961 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.; launched on 14 September 1963; sponsored by Mrs. Edmund G. Brown; and commissioned on 14 March 1964, Capt. Mark M. Gantar in command. SACRAMENTO's turbines are two of the four originally built for KENTUCKY (BB 66), which was never completed.
On 7 April 1964, SACRAMENTO steamed out of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to begin her maiden voyage, three days of builder's and familiarization trials. On Friday, 12 June, SACRAMENTO and MARS (AFS 1) rendezvoused about 35 miles off Point Loma, Calif., to test their new systems of replenishing. Underway training with the Fleet Training Group, San Diego, commenced on 15 June. Following a call at San Francisco, the ship returned to Bremerton for replenishment-at-sea trials, followed by post-shakedown availability from 27 August through 9 October. The ship departed Long Beach on 28 November for her first WestPac deployment.
On 9 December, two days out of Pearl Harbor, SACRAMENTO refueled TICONDEROGA (CVA 14), KEARSARGE (CVA 33), and five destroyers. She then continued on to Sasebo, Japan. Through this 175-day deployment, SACRAMENTO provided in-port services; and, for four months, replenished ships in the South China Sea. She serviced 294 ships, transferred 35 million gallons of fuel, 1,191 short tons of provisions, and 670 tons of ammunition. During this period, she steamed over 39, 000 miles and called at Sasebo, Yokosuka, Hong Kong, and Pearl Harbor. At the end of this "maiden deployment", SACRAMENTO returned to Long Beach and then continued on to Bremerton for yard availability, which ended on 16 August. Refresher training and the usual preparations for sea preceded her second departure for WestPac on 14 October.
Arriving at Subic Bay on the 28th, she became an integral part of Task Force 73, the 7th Fleet replenishment and mobile logistics support force. She then steamed to Yankee Station off Vietnam's coast to begin duties on the replenishment line. A typical cycle in Vietnamese waters consisted of two and one-half weeks on Yankee Station, a quick run back to Subic Bay for five or six days of in-port loading, then a return to station. This nine-month deployment ended with SACRAMENTO's arrival at Seattle on 17 July 1966.
SACRAMENTO stood out from Long Beach on 25 November to commence a third WestPac deployment and resumed her Yankee Station cycle for months of vital service before returning home. A fourth WestPac deployment commenced on 6 January 1968. After replenishing the 351st ship of that deployment on 15 June, she steamed for the west coast. From San Francisco, she proceeded to Bremerton for her first regular yard overhaul since commissioning.
From December 1968 to February 1969, SACRAMENTO underwent the normal inspections, trials, and preparations for deployment. She again steamed west on 11 February, arrived at Subic Bay on the 28th, and five days later headed for Yankee Station. This deployment saw SACRAMENTO complete 471 replenishments while steaming over 51,000 miles. Upon returning home at the end of September 1969, the ship spent three months in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and then commenced preparations for her next WestPac deployment.
SACRAMENTO departed on her sixth WestPac deployment on 23 February 1970, after loading ammunition at Bangor and fuel at Manchester. She arrived in Subic Bay, P.I., on 15 March and, six days later, headed for Yankee Station. She continued making trips between Subic Bay and Yankee Station through August, taking time out to visit Yokosuka in June, and Hong Kong in July. On 5 September, she departed Subic Bay for San Diego, arriving on the 18th. Five days later, she moved to Puget Sound for ammunition offload, a standdown period, and restricted availability. The end of 1970 saw her still at Puget Sound.
On 8 January 1971, she sailed south to Long Beach, Seal Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco. In February, she returned to Washington to load stores for her seventh WestPac deployment. She departed Bangor on 1 March and entered Subic Bay on the 20th. Four days later, SACRAMENTO exited Subic Bay on her first line swing of this tour. She sailed back and forth between Subic Bay and Yankee Station until 5 August, when she got underway for Sasebo, Japan, on the first leg of her voyage back to the United States. After stops at Long Beach, Seal Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco, SACRAMENTO entered her new home port, Bremerton, Wash., on 2 September. She finished out 1971 on the west coast, commencing overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on 1 December.
SACRAMENTO remained in Bremerton through early June 1972, when she began post-overhaul operations off the west coast. This employment continued until 11 August, at which time she departed from Bangor, en route to Subic Bay. She replenished units of the 7th Fleet, off the coast of Vietnam, for the next six and one-half months, finally departing from Subic Bay on 23 March 1973. After visiting Yokosuka, Japan, she continued on to the United States, arriving at Bremerton, Wash., on 16 April. For the remainder of the year, SACRAMENTO was active along the west coast.
Beginning in February 1974, USS SACRAMENTO departed Seal Beach, California, for another Western Pacific deployment. By June 1974, the ship was operating with U.S. forces in the Western Pacific, continuing the fast-combat-support mission that had been central to her Vietnam-era service. On 22 August 1974, USS SACRAMENTO was documented conducting an underway replenishment with USS CONSTELLATION (CVA 64) in the South China Sea.
In the later Cold War rhythm of workups, sustainment, and forward deployments, the next precisely datable open record ties USS SACRAMENTO to USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63)'s Western Pacific deployment that ran 25 October 1977-15 May 1978. During that cruise, an official image dated 16 March 1978 shows USS SACRAMENTO alongside USS KITTY HAWK while simultaneously replenishing escorts - specifically USS SAMPLE (FF 1048), with USS BADGER (FF 1071) turning away after taking fuel - capturing the high-tempo, multi-ship replenishment techniques that made these high-speed logistics ships so valuable to carrier operations. After the 15 May 1978 end date of that deployment, open documentation becomes more fragmentary again; one source nonetheless notes that early in 1979 the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet sought alternate procedures connected to overhaul planning for USS SACRAMENTO, consistent with the major maintenance cycles that periodically took such steam-powered logistics ships off the line.
By the early 1980s, carrier battle group documentation again anchors USS SACRAMENTO to fleet operations: a Navy command operation report from May 1981 for USS CONSTELLATION explicitly lists USS SACRAMENTO among the ships comprising the battle group in the run-up to deployed operations. Another western Pacific deployment followed from 1982 to 1983. During the late 1980s, carrier deployment listings place USS SACRAMENTO again within USS CONSTELLATION's battle group for the 1 December 1988-1 June 1989 Western Pacific/Indian Ocean deployment, and those same listings document port calls that included Pearl Harbor, Subic Bay, Masirah, and Diego Garcia, reflecting the era's sustained Indian Ocean presence and access patterns before the end of the Cold War.
During the Gulf crisis and war that followed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, an official biography source identifies the ship's commanding officer as Captain Dennis W. Irelan during 1990-1991, when USS SACRAMENTO deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Photographic documentation places USS SACRAMENTO operating with major surface combatants during that campaign: on 14 January 1991, USS SACRAMENTO is shown replenishing USS MISSOURI (BB 63) and USS WISCONSIN (BB 64), both then engaged in the broader coalition effort. A later official image dated 1 May 1991 shows USS SACRAMENTO at Pearl Harbor "underway for Bremerton" after Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, capturing the post-war redeployment and return-to-yard pipeline that typically followed extended high-tempo operations.
Open documentation for the early-to-mid 1990s again becomes uneven in public view, but a Navy command-operation-report source for USS KITTY HAWK's 1992 reporting explicitly references USS SACRAMENTO accompanying the carrier during a northbound transit, together with USS LEAHY (CG 16), demonstrating that USS SACRAMENTO continued to be tasked directly in support of carrier operations in the Pacific theater in that period. The most sharply documented single event of the mid-1990s came during USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72)'s 1995 Persian Gulf deployment: during an underway replenishment, USS SACRAMENTO struck USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN after experiencing steering problems attributed to a split rudder. The carrier continued her mission, while USS SACRAMENTO diverted to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates for repairs lasting several weeks - an episode that underscores both the inherent risk of close-formation replenishment and the operational imperative to restore logistics capacity quickly when a major support ship is damaged.
For the late 1990s, multiple independent open sources converge on a well-defined deployment cycle. Carrier deployment listings for USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) record an around-the-world cruise running 1 September 1997-2 March 1998, conducted in the context of post-Gulf War containment operations and including Operation Southern Watch. In that deployment record, USS SACRAMENTO is listed among the battle group ships and the same listing identifies port calls including Yokosuka, Hong Kong, Jebel Ali, and Mayport, reflecting a West Coast-to-East Coast transit pattern consistent with a global circumnavigation.
After the attacks of 11 September 2001, dated photographic evidence places USS SACRAMENTO again in direct support of a forward-deployed carrier: on 12 October 2001, an official image caption documents USS SACRAMENTO conducting replenishment operations in the Arabian Sea with USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, reflecting the rapid maritime surge that characterized the opening phase of that campaign. Official photographs place USS SACRAMENTO replenishing USS CARL VINSON on 8 March 2003, and later show USS SACRAMENTO conducting replenishment operations with USS CARL VINSON and USS LASSEN (DDG 82) on 4 August 2003, consistent with sustained carrier operations and escort support demands in that period. Another official image dated 20 March 2004 documents replenishment activity with USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74), indicating that USS SACRAMENTO continued to cycle among carrier strike group support tasks in the fleet's global operations tempo.
The ship's long service as a high-speed, multi-commodity logistics node concluded with decommissioning on 1 October 2004, ending an era in which steam-powered fast combat support ships routinely stayed in company with carrier groups at high speed while moving fuel, ordnance, parts, and provisions across the lines at sea.
back to top go to the end of the pageUSS SACRAMENTO Image Gallery:
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The photo below was taken and contributed by Michael Martin and shows the SACRAMENTO at Esco Marine, Brownsville, Texas, waiting to be scrapped. The photo was taken on November 19, 2007.
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