1946: A U.S. Navy Fleet Oiler is Commissioned in Philadelphia

April 1, 1946

Seven months after World War II ended with the surrender of Japan to the Allies, USS Passumpsic (AO-107) was commissioned into the U.S. Navy. The ceremony took place at League Island Navy Yard in Philadelphia; this yard long served as the headquarters for the Fourth Naval District, a geographical area encompassing Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the southern part of New Jersey.

As an Ashtabula-class fleet replenishment oiler, Passumpsic was constructed by the Pennsylvania-based Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company to provide other vessels with fuel and other necessities such as food, mail, and ammunition. This ship was named after the Passumpsic River in Vermont. She remains the only Navy vessel bearing the name of that 22.7-mile (36.5-kilometer)-long tributary of the Connecticut River.

“The ship, 553 feet [169 meters] long and capable of a speed of 18 knots [33.9 kilometers], will carry a peacetime crew of 20 officers and 172 enlisted men,” reported the Philadelphia on the day that Passumpsic was commissioned. The ship was formally handed over at this commissioning by Rear Admiral Milo F. Draemel (1884-1971), commandant of the Fourth Naval District, to the command of Captain Roger Dexter Phillips (1901-1952) of U.S. Naval Reserve.

It was Draemel’s wife Marguerite Clise Draemel (1887-1956) who had christened Passumpsic a little over five months earlier. (The accompanying photo of the ship was taken at around the time that she was commissioned.)

Over the next few years, Passumpsic – operating out of Long Beach, California – was extensively deployed to serve the U.S. Pacific Fleet. These missions included traveling to Hawaii; Midway Atoll; Japan; South Korea; Taiwan; Hong Kong; Southeast Asia; Australia; Fiji; the Marshall Islands; and the Marianas.

While not subjected to enemy fire during the Korean War, Passumpsic was awarded nine battlestars altogether for her service in the region during that armed conflict. For several years following the end of the Korean War, the ship was routinely deployed to the Western Pacific on an annual basis.

During the mid-1960s, Passumpsic underwent major renovations. A key result of this “jumboization” process involved extending the ship’s original length to a total of 644 feet (196 meters) to allow for additional crew and considerably more cargo capacity. The subsequent missions carried out by Passumpsic included replenishment operations for Navy ships within the Vietnam War combat zone.   

Passumpsic was decommissioned on July 24, 1973. She was transferred at this time to the Navy’s Military Sealift Command and redesignated as USNS Passumpsic (T-AO-107). The prefix USNS stands for “United States Naval Ship” and is used to identify non-commissioned vessels that belong to the Navy.

USNS Passumpsic, which was staffed by a civilian crew, provided support for Navy vessels across the globe for nearly 18 years. Towards the end of this stage of her service, Passumpsic was deployed to the Middle East to assist ships taking part in Operation Desert Storm in the first couple of months of 1991.

Passumpsic was stricken from the Navy list in December of that year. She was then sold to a Singaporean firm, which resold her to an Indian company in July of the following year for scrapping.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Additional information on USS Passumpsic (AO-107) – ultimately redesignated as USNS Passumpsic (T-AO-107) – is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Passumpsic and https://www.navsource.org/archives/09/19/19107.htm