USS Neosho (AO-23)
The USS Neosho (AO-23) was a tanker of the United States Navy in World War II . The ship was named after a river in Kansas and was the first US Navy tanker to carry the name. After the ship was lost in 1942, a new tanker (AO-48) was christened the USS Neosho .
technical description
The length of the tanker was 168.55 meters above all and 160.02 meters between the perpendiculars, the width 22.86 meters. The water displacement without cargo was 7,256 ts and a maximum of 24,850 ts (tank capacity 24,830 ts of oil), with a size of 11,335 GRT. When fully loaded, the draft was 9.63 meters. The “normal cargo”, however, was only 16,734 ts (draft 9.14 meters). The ship was propelled by two sets of turbines on two propellers, total power 13,500 shp (forced 15,200 shp), for a maximum speed of 18.0 kn (design value, was achieved on the test drives of the Neosho 18.30 kn and the type ship Cimarron 19.28 kn). At the time, this value was very high for a fleet tanker; most of these ships did not go faster than 10 knots at the time. The own fuel supply was 1,075 ts for a sea endurance of 18,000 nm.
The planned crew in peacetime was 69 men, but far more were needed in the war (sister ships had up to 34 officers and 267 men on board at the end of the war).
The tanker was initially taken over without the typical marine equipment with refueling facilities for taking oil at sea and also without armament. These fixtures were retrofitted in 1940/41. However, the USS Neosho did not receive the comprehensive "navalization" carried out on the type ship with four modern 12.7 cm gun turrets on base ring mounts and central fire control via an FLG Mk.37 on the bridge (later even radar-controlled). This elaborate equipment was only installed on the USS Cimarron , USS Platte and USS Salamonie . All other sister ships, including the USS Neosho , were fitted with old 3 '' L / 23 guns (in the case of the USS Neosho three in staggered hulls on the bow) and a 12.7 cm L / 25 -Canon at the stern as well as some machine guns.
history
The ship belonged to the T3-S2-A1 type (so-called Cimarron class ), the first large and modern fleet tankers of the US Navy, which were built shortly before the beginning of the Second World War. The keel laying of the USS Neosho took place on June 22, 1938, on April 29, 1939 the ship was launched (christened by Mrs. Emory S. Land). The shipyard was the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Kearny , New Jersey , which completed the ship under the yard number 152 in August 1939 as the second unit of the class (after the type ship USS Cimarron ) (handed over to the Navy on August 8, 1939). The ship, like its eleven sister ships, had originally been ordered by the Esso company , but was bought by the Navy under the USMC program (as its number 6) even before completion and therefore never received an "Esso" name. The abbreviation T3-S2-A1 stands for tanker (T) longer than 500 feet (3) with a drive of two turbines (S2), first class and design (A1).
A special feature of the class is that four units were not completed as tankers, but with a flight deck as escort aircraft carriers ( Sangamon class ) and, due to their size, have particularly proven themselves in this task.
At the beginning of the war, the tanker and the command of Commander (later Rear Admiral) John Phillips (to whom the ship was also subordinate to its sinking six months later). The USS Neosho was at the time of the Japanese attack in December 1941 in Pearl Harbor anchored in the "Battleship Row" before Ford Iceland and engaged in clearing the aircraft fuel load. There, under the fire of Japanese aircraft, it posed a considerable risk of fire and explosion, which is why it was made operational within 30 minutes and maneuvered out of the danger zone without damage past the other inferno of the port. It remained undamaged; their commander received the Navy Cross for this achievement . In early 1942, their outdated guns were exchanged for a modern, but open 12.7 cm L / 38 gun at the stern and three new 7.6 cm L / 50 flak guns at the bow. In April 1942, the tanker was also the first unit in its class to receive the new 20 mm Oerlikon automatic cannons on the US west coast (a total of eight individual guns, two on the bow, two on the bridge, four in the aft superstructure). The camouflage paint on the sides was plain sea blue (Measure 11) with metal decks painted dark blue. The ship did not receive radar until it was sunk.
In March 1942, the ship was part of Task Force 11 around the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) in operations off New Guinea. The tanker was then assigned to Task Force 17 around the aircraft carrier Yorktown and used with this fleet unit in the naval battle in the Coral Sea in May 1942. On May 3, 1942, combat units, including the USS Yorktown , were refueled by the USS Neosho .
Accompanied by the destroyer USS Sims , the tanker was sent to a new meeting point. There he was severely damaged on May 7, 1942 in a Japanese air raid by seven bomb hits by dive bombers of the type Aichi D3A 1 Val of the Japanese carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku , after two attacks by horizontal bombers of the type Nakajima B5N 2 Kate had previously remained unsuccessful. The escort destroyer USS Sims , which was also hit , sank immediately, the USS Neosho burned down completely until May 11, still floating, but without propulsion and controls. Due to a misstatement of her position, she was initially not found. It was only on 11 May 1942 could Consolidated PBY- - flying boat make up the tanker. It was finally sunk that afternoon by the destroyer USS Henley itself after it had taken the 123 surviving crew members of the USS Neosho aboard. Only four of 68 men who had drifted away in their life rafts after leaving the tanker prematurely were later rescued by the destroyer USS Helm (DD-388), but one of the rescued died shortly afterwards. Altogether only 126 men of the crew survived, about half. Exact loss figures can not be found in the literature.
The USS Neosho received two Battle Stars for its war effort . All eleven sister ships, including the four aircraft carriers, survived the war.
swell
- Thomas Wildenberg: Gray Steel and Black Oil - Fast Tankers and Replenishment in the US Navy, 1912-1992. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1996.
- LA Sawyer, WH Mitchell: US Navy Tankers. In: Victory Ships and Tankers. David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1974, p. 88 ff.
- Division of Naval Intelligence: United States Naval Vessels. Official fleet list ONI-222-US of September 1, 1945, p. 199/200
- Francis E. McMurtrie (Ed.): Jane's Fighting Ships 1941. Sampson, Low & Marston, London March 1942, p. 497.
- Samuel Eliot Morison : Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions (History of US Naval Operations in WW II, Volume IV). Little, Brown & Company, Boston 1949, pp. 33-37.
- Bernard Millot: The Battle of the Coral Sea. Ian Allan, London 1974, pp. 60-62, 108-109.
Web links
- History of Neosho in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)