U.S.S. Salamonie History

 Named for “a river in Jay County, Indiana, tributary of the “Wabash” so states the Navel History Division, Department of the Navy, Washington D.C. Of the 10,000 plus naval vessels to have registered names, U.S.S. SALAMONIE is the only fighting ship to honor the local area.

She was originally laid down on 5 February 1940 at Newport News, Virginia. Originally one of twelve tankers of the Cimarron class she was designed for the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and built to conform to the specifications of the U.S. Maritime Commission. Construction included special features that would make them easily convertible to naval use as Fleet Oilers. She was christened the SS Esso Columbia a subsidy was provided to private operators, if used in merchant service, because of increased operating expenses due to lower cargo capacity and heavy construction specifications that anticipated war-time use such as magazines, ammunition hoists, ammunition handling rooms and heavy gun emplacements. She was taken over by the Navy when she was 85% complete and renamed USS SALAMONIE, she was completed as an oiler and commissioned 28 April 1941. From the standpoint of naval architecture, the USS SALAMONIE was a beautiful vessel. She had a streamlined hull gracefully designed between a slightly raked clipper and sweeping deck lines back to her “cruiser stern”. Her athwart ships deck-line was cambered and her deckhouse corners were rounded. Almost the only straight lines on her were the masts. The locations of the bridge house and the after quarters provided eye-appealing proportions of space. Her stubby fat stack four 5-inch guns in turrets, two quadruple barrel 1.1” guns and 12-20mmAA guns behind splinter shields gave her a look of power. USS SALAMONIE was the heaviest armed of its class with its battery comparing favorably with new destroyers and was much better equipped than older destroyers or smaller warships. She even had a structure for a Mark IV gun director which was installed the next year 1943. Her living appointments were more comfortable than those of later ships of her type. Crewmembers lived in separate quarters for 8 or 12 men rather than in a few large living spaces. The Captains large cabin occupied most of the deck beneath the bridge. Staterooms amidships and aft were designed to accommodate just two ships officers. Dimensions were 553 feet long, 75ft. beam and 31ft. draft.  She was powered by twin-geared turbines, with twin shafts and screws, and two reverse turbines.  Her boilers (4) were oil fired and manufactured by Babcock and Wheeler. Her design speed was 18.00 knots and her trial speed was 19.45 knots. With a full load of 141,000 barrels of fuel oil her maximum displacement was 25,000 tons. Operational radius was 18,000 nautical miles. She was manned with an original crew of 240.

U.S.S. SALAMONIE AO-26 made numerous runs along the East Coast and on 13 November 1942 made her first overseas deployment as part of a large convoy headed for Casablanca North Africa. After several runs to England U.S.S. SALAMONIE was overhauled at Norfolk Virginia and given radar. On 8 July 1944 she sailed for the Pacific via the Panama Canal and reported for 7^th Fleet duty at Milne Bay, New Guinea. In August 1944 she was part of the invasion force at Hollandia and in October supported the Mindoro strike forces. The final months of WWII found her supporting Allied operations in the Philippines. Her only battle scars came on 5 January 1945 when she was strafed by a single Japanese plane.

After the war U.S.S. SALAMONIE supported Shanghai occupation forces along the Hwang Pu River. Early in 1946 she sailed to Long Beach California for overhaul and once again crossed the Pacific. The next 2 ½ years were spent shuttling oil products from the Persian Gulf to the U.S. navel bases in the Far East. In 1949 she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and in May of that year reported to 2^nd Fleet Headquarters in Norfolk Virginia. Throughout the 1950s and well into the 60s U.S.S. SALAMONIE steamed the Atlantic and Caribbean plus she made numerous deployments as part of the 6^th Fleet in the Mediterranean.

The most famous captain of the U.S.S. SALAMONIE was Captain Edward L. Beach  from March 1957 – January 1958. For more information on Captain Beach please follow the link above.

Age finally overcame her and she was decommissioned on 20 December 1968 at 14:10 hrs. Captain Carl Seiberlich read the orders from the Chief of Naval Operations which decommissioned the USS SALAMONIE.  No other ship in the Navy had been in service as long as OLD SAL. 27 years by Navy records in which time she had refueled 9,000 ships at sea more than any other oiler in history. The name SALAMONIE was struck from the Navy list on 2 September 1969 and she was permanently laid up in the James River (Virginia) to wait disposition.

On 24 September 1970 her hull was sold to a firm in Rotterdam Netherlands where she met her fate at the scrapper’s torch.

More Information

For more pictures associated with the U.S.S. SALAMONIE please click here

or contact the

USS SALAMONIE Association

JLICHOFF@neo.rr.com

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