Best Friends
My best friend was Chuck Shaw. We remained in contact through the years untill his passing several years back.

Other Memories
The ship I was aboard, the USS Kennebec AO-36, was the third oldest ship in the Navy at the time I was aboard. She was originally launched in April of 1941 as a maritime vessel the SS Corsicana but was acquired by the Navy and commissioned the USS Kennebec AO-36 in Feb. 1942. The following excerpt from a letter our Captain wrote and sent back home in 1966.

U.S.S. KENNEBEC (AO-36)
c/o Fleet Post Office
San Francisco 96601
A036/TAC:ao
1 June 1966

Dear Families & Friends of the KENNEBEC,

Since my last letter in February KENNEBEC has continued to
perform her primary mission of supporting the U. S. 7th Fleet in
the South China Sea. Your men have worked long hard hours, in
the heat of the day and at times through most of the night.
Their efforts have been consistently superb. Through their hard
work and desire to do their very best, KENNEBEC has gained an
enviable reputation for being able to do the job and do it well.

Statistics for the most part are boring but to give you an
idea of what we have accomplished since we arrived in WestPac,
KENNEBEC has replenished 332 ships, pumped more than 46,282,572
gallons of oil, transferred 1800 tons of fleet freight, 260
personnel, in accomplishing these tasks KENNEBEC has steamed
60,682 miles in support of operations from the Gulf of Tonkin to
Bay of Siam. Quite an accomplishment for this elderly lady.



While working off the coast of Vietnam we out pumped some of the newest super tankers the Navy had at the time. Each time we would head back on line we would carry over 10,000 rounds of 5"-38 munitions on our cargo deck to transfer to the destroyers we would rearm while at the same time refueling. We refueled everything from MSO’s and gun boats to the USS Enterprise, the only nuke aircraft carrier the Navy had at the time and if you are wondering what fuel we would be giving a nuke carrier it was JP-5 jet fuel. We refueled British ships, Australian ships, and even a Taiwan naval vessel that bounced off our Port side when it attempted to come along side to refuel. They rarely refueled underway and were very inexperienced and believe me it showed. Thankfully they were not alongside for very long. There were times when the sea was really rough and I remember one instance when a tin can (destroyer)) was alongside and the sea was so rough they had a crew member get washed overboard. We immediately executed an emergency break away. I remember running to the fantail of our ship and throwing a life ring in the guy’s direction as he bobbed up and down like a cork in the rough sea. We later heard he had stayed in the water 8 hours because the sea was so rough they could not launch life boats to attempt a rescue. If I remember correctly he was finally rescued by a helicopter launched from an aircraft carrier. This was during a time when there was still the USSR. On numerous occasions when ships would come alongside and set up a course to refuel the USSR fishing trawlers would set up and block our course and cause us to have to break away during refueling operations while off the coast of Vietnam. Anything to hinder our efforts.





NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Kennebec (AO-36)

• Laid down as SS Corsicana, a Maritime Commission type (T2-SO) tanker hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 142), at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Sparrows Point, MD.
• Launched, 19 April 1941
• Acquired by the Navy, 13 January 1942
• Commissioned USS Kennebec (AO-36), 4 February 1942, CDR. Stuart S. Reynolds in command
• During World War II USS Kennebec was assigned to both the Europe-Africa-Middle East and Asiatic-Pacific Theaters and participated in the following campaign:

  Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater
  Campaign and Dates
  North African Occupation Algeria-Morocco landings, 8 to 11 November 1942

• Following World War II USS Kennebec was assigned to Occupation and China service in the Far East for the following periods:

  Navy Occupation Service Medal	China Service Medal (extended)
  7 September 1945 to 23 March 1946	7 September 1945 to 23 March 1946
  3 to 25 May 1946	26 May to 9 July 1946
  1 February to 5 March 1947	6 to 7 March 1947
  16 April to 5 May 1947
  12 to 28 June 1947

• Decommissioned, 4 September 1950, at San Diego, CA.
• Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
• Recommissioned, 11 January 1951, at Oakland, CA., CDR. A. G. Beckman in command
• Decommissioned, 25 September 1954, at San Diego, CA.
• Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
• Recommissioned, 14 December 1956, CDR. Naden F. Stimac in command
• Decommissioned, 31 October 1957
• Struck from the Naval Register, 14 January 1959
• Transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet
• Reacquired by the Navy and recommissioned, 16 December 1961
• During the Vietnam War USS Kennebec participated in the following campaigns:

  Vietnam War Campaigns
  Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
  Vietnam Defense 25 to 29 September 1965 7 to 10 and 20 to 26 October1965 30 October to 11 November 1965 23 to 27 November 1965 8 to 15 December 1965	Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV 7 to 15 April 1968 26 April to 5 May 1968 11 to 20 and 25 to 28 May 1968 3 to 10, 15 to 22 and 30 June 1968
  Vietnamese Counteroffensive 31 December 1965 15 to 17 January 1966 2 to 7 and 19 to 25 February 1966 5 to 10 and 22 to 30 March 1966 7 to 11 and 22 to 25 April 1966 30 April to 2 May 1966 6 to 12 and 28 to 29 May 1966	Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V 1 to 07 July 1968 12 to 20 September 1968
  Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II 5 to 9 and 18 to 28 February 1967 11 to 19 March 1967 25 March to 3 April 1967 9 to 18 April 1967 5 to 15 May 1967	Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969 11 to 18 June 1969 24 June to 1 July 1969 11 to 20 July 1969 7 to 16 and 21 to 27 August 1969 3 to 8 and 22 to 28 September 1969
  Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase III 24 June to 4 July 1967 9 to 16 and 22 to 29 July 1967 3 to 16 August 1967

• Decommissioned, 29 June 1970, at Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Mare Island, Vallejo, CA.
• Struck from the Naval Register, 15 July 1976
• Transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet
• Final Disposition, sold by MARAD for non-transportation use, 6 April 1982, to Levin Metals Corporation for $180,077.00 and subsequently scrapped.
• USS Kennebec earned one battle star for World War II service and seven campaign stars for Vietnam War service

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  Specifications:
  Displacement 6,013 t.(lt) 22,380 t.(fl)
  Length 501' 5"
  Beam 68'
  Draft 30' 2"
  Speed 16.7 kts. (trial)
  Complement
  Officers - 20
  Enlisted - 194
  Largest Boom Capacity 7.5 t.
  Armament
  one single 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mount
  four single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts
  four twin 40mm AA gun mounts
  four twin 20mm AA gun mounts
  Cargo Capacity
  Oil - 109,600 Bbls
  Gasoline - 689,000 Gals
  Fuel Capacity NSFO - 4,550 Bbls
  Propulsion
  one Westinghouse geared turbine
  two Foster and Wheeler P-type boilers 420psi 720°
  double Westinghouse Main Reduction Gear
  Ship's Service Generators
  one turbo-drive 50Kw 240V D.C.
  two turbo-drive 300Kw 240V A.C.
  single propeller, 12,000shp

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  Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Source
  	43k	Artist C.G. Evers painting of USS Kennebec (AO-36) underway during World War II US Navy photo.		Pieter Bakels
  	40k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way, date and location unknown. US Navy photo.		Robert Hurst
  	117k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way 4 October 1942. Except for more powerful propulsion machinery, the six ships of the Kennebec (AO-36) class were built to the same successful design as SS Mobilube, later YO-164. US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo No. 80-G-14108 courtesy Shipscribe.com.		Robert Hurst
  	106k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) departs Norfolk Navy Yard, 24 July 1944. Note the radar antenna on the mast and the raised gun platforms on the aft deck house with their new 40 mm guns. These changes became commonplace for all oilers in the last two years of the war. US National Archives photo from "Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy 1912-1992", by Thomas Wildenburg		Robert Hurst
  	180k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way, circa 1951, location unknown. US Navy photo.		Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
  	70k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) at anchor, date and location unknown.		Harvey Golden
  	90k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) and USS Mattaponi (AO-41) moored pierside while being prepared for recommissioning at San Diego in 1956. US Navy photo.		Richard Miller BMCS USNR (Ret)
  	108k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way, circa 1960s, location unknown. US Navy photo courtesy Shipscribe.com		Richard Miller BMCS USNR (Ret)
  	115k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way, 16 September 1963, location unknown. US Navy photo # 1086796		Richard Miller BMCS USNR (Ret)
  	128k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way, circa 1963, location unknown. US Navy photo		Richard Miller BMCS USNR (Ret)
  	46k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) refueling USS Sanctuary (AH-17) off the coast of Vietnam, circa 1966-1968.		Photo by LCDR George E. Pillow Jr., USN CO USS Kretchmer (DER-329)
  	130k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) moored in the background at Naval Station Subic Bay, Philippines Islands in 1967 as the eight-inch gun tubes for USS Canberra (CAG-2) are being replaced by shipyard personnel. US Navy photo USN 1142872		Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
  	312k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) alongside USS Hancock (CVA-19) off the coast of Japan in March 1967.		Photo by Charles "Bud" Dehnert USS Hancock
  	95k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way two days out of Yokosuka, Japan, 22 April 1969		© Richard Leonhardt
  	103k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way, date and location unknown. US Navy photo		Courtesy Dick Hawkins USS Kennebec (AO 36) web site
  	71k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way, date and location unknown. US Navy photo		Chet Morris
  	109k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way, date and location unknown. Photo from USS Kennebec Association web site		Richard Miler BMCS USNR (Ret)
  	71k	USS Kennebec (AO-36) under way off Vietnam in 1967.		Richard Miler BMCS USNR (Ret)
  		Pacific Stars and Stripes article "Navy Ship Thrives on Crisis", 21 May 1968 issue.		Richard Miler BMCS USNR (Ret)
  	127k	Ex-USS Kennebec (AO-36) laid up in reserve at the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA. in November 1981. Photo from "Merchant Ships of World War II: A Post War Album 1" by Victor Young.		Robert Hurst

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  USS Kennebec Additional Ships Patches
  Contributed by Mike Smolinski	Contributed by Richard Miller

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  For more photos and information about USS Kennebec, see: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships USS Kennebec (AO 36) Association MARAD Vessel History Database Pacific Stars and Stripes, May 21 1968 article "Navy Ship Thrives on Crisis" Commanding Officers

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  Crew Contact And Reunion Information
  Fleet Tankers Association
  U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

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