USS Mississinewa (AO-144)

**USS *Mississinewa* (AO-144)**
	USNS Mississinewa refueling destroyer Forrest Sheman (DD-931)
Ship data
flag	United States
class	Neosho class
home port	Newport , Rhode Island
Shipyard	New York Shipbuilding , Camden , New Jersey
Keel laying	May 4th 1953
Launch	June 2, 1954
Commissioning	January 18, 1955
Decommissioning	November 15, 1976
Whereabouts	Wrecked in 2007
Ship dimensions and crew
length	200 m ( Lüa )
width	26 m
Draft	Max. 11 m
displacement	11,786 t (empty) ; 38,610 t (loaded)
crew	USS : 324 ; USNS : 127 ; (106 civil; 21 Navy soldiers)
Machine system
Machine ; performance	28,000
Top ; speed	20 kn (37 km / h)
Armament
	2 deck guns 5 "/ caliber 38 ; 6 double guns 3" / caliber 50

The USS Mississinewa (AO-144) was a Neosho-class warship of the US Navy that was in service as a supply tanker from 1955 to 1991 . She was the second ship to be named Mississinewa and was keeled by the New York Shipbuilding Society in Camden , New Jersey in May 1953 and completed on June 2, 1954. During the official commissioning for the services of the US Navy, she was piloted by Captain MJ Jensen.

history

United States Navy, 1955-1976

The Mississinewa was used to supply warships at sea with fuel , food, mail, and other supplies. At the beginning of her service, she mainly operated on the east coast of the United States . On May 1, 1956, she left her home port in Newport , Rhode Island , to go to the Italian port city of Naples . Naples became her new home port, where she was repeatedly reloaded to supply ships of the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean . The Mississinewa's Mediterranean mission lasted until 1964. Even during the Suez Crisis , in which the Navy's 6th Fleet intervened, it was commissioned to supply their ships. In mid-July 1958, she went to the Middle East for relief services , where she refueled over 200 ships, while the 6th Fleet and its soldiers supported Lebanese President Chamoun as part of Operation Blue Bat , who was accused of electoral fraud. From 1962 to 1964, the Mississinewa's remits and duties were reinforced when she served as the flagship of the 6th Fleet commander.

Until 1964, during her mission she made regular trips to the United States to undergo various improvements; for example the construction of a heliport on the deck. From 1964 to 1969 she operated in the western Atlantic from Newfoundland to the Caribbean and carried out some missions in the Mediterranean, as well as in 1966 a NATO assignment in the northern waters of Norway .

Military Sealift Command

The USS Mississinewa was decommissioned on November 15, 1976 by the Navy and transferred as USNS Mississinewa (T-AO-144) to the work of the Military Sealift Command , which from now on carried out its tasks with a civilian crew. In 1991, the Mississinewa ended her duties in the service of American shipping and was officially removed from the register of ships active in the US fleet on February 16, 1994 .

Scrapping

In 1994 the ship was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration and incorporated into the National Defense Reserve Fleet on May 1, 1999 , to be finally scrapped on January 30, 2007 in Brownsville , Texas .