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USS Mascoma (AO-83)
Encyclopedia
USS Mascoma (AO-83) was a constructed for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She served her country in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
Theatre of Operations, and provided petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
products where needed to combat ships. For her very dangerous work under combat conditions, she was awarded seven battle stars by war's end.
Mascoma, built by the Marinship
Marinship
Marinship Corporation was a shipbuilding company of the United States during World War II, created to build the shipping required for the war effort...
Corp., Sausalito, California
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
, under Maritime Commission contract, was launched on 31 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. W. C. Ryan; converted by the Swan Island Yard, Kaiser Corp.
Kaiser Shipyards
The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located mostly on the U.S. west coast during World War II. They were owned by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, a creation of American industrialist Henry J...
, Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
; accepted and commissioned on 3 February 1944, Comdr. C. C. Eden in command.
World War II Pacific Theatre operations
On 14 May 1944, Mascoma got underway for the Pacific theater to serve as a fleet oiler. She arrived at KwajaleinKwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
on 4 June and fueled ships there until departing for Majuro
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
on the 13th. At Majuro through the 21st she encountered her first experience with boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
trouble, an experience which was to be repeated throughout her wartime operations. In spite of boiler problems, she sailed for Eniwetok on the 22nd, taking up fueling assignments there on the 25th and effecting repairs to her boilers. Toward the end of July the oiler steamed for the fueling area off Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, remaining in support of the Saipan, Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
, and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
operations until 1 August. She then consolidated her fuel into and departed for Eniwetok en route to Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
.
Supporting attack on the Philippines
Resupplied, Mascoma returned to MajuroMajuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
on 2 September, continuing on to Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
the following week. She arrived in the Admiralties
Admiralty Islands
The Admiralty Islands are a group of eighteen islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the south Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-covered islands form part of Manus Province, the smallest and...
on the 13th and departed again on the 18th to lend support to the first carrier task force attack on the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
On 26 September, while in the fueling area, the tanker again developed boiler trouble and was dead in the water for over 16 hours. Having effected temporary repairs during that time, she returned to Manua
Manua
Manua, or the Manua Islands Group , in the Samoan Islands, consists of three main islands: Tau, Ofu and Olosega...
arriving on 1 October and remaining until the 10th for further repairs.
Mississinewa hit by kaiten and explodes
Mascoma next sailed for Kossol RoadsKossol Roads
Kossol Roads, Palau is a large body of reef-enclosed water north of Babeldaob. During World War II, it was used by the United States Navy as the location of a floating resupply and repair base....
, where she served as station tanker from 13 October through 18 November. She then steamed for Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
, arriving on the 19th. At anchor at Ulithi the next morning, her crew witnessed the first use of one of Japan's weapons of last resort, the "kaiten
Kaiten
The Kaiten were manned torpedos and suicide craft, they were used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of World War II.-History:...
" human torpedo
Human torpedo
Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of rideable submarine used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic design is still in use today; they are a type of diver propulsion vehicle....
. On that morning, 20 November, , moored near Mascoma, was rocked with explosions caused by a direct hit with a kaiten launched from the . This suicide sortie had been led by Lt. Sekio Nishinu, one of the kaiten's inventors. Boatcrews from Mascoma rescued 21 survivors from Mississinewa.
Riding out a typhoon
Nine days later Mascoma attempted to return to the fueling area, but was turned back by heavy weather. She departed again for the area on 10 December, but, on the 16th, was forced by an approaching typhoon to break off operations. On the 17th boiler trouble again caused her to cut off her engines. Underway nine hours later, she rode out the storm with only one boiler in operation. On the 19th she resumed fueling operations and returned to UlithiUlithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
for repairs on the 24th.
Stateside yard availability
The next month, January 1945, she sailed to CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for Navy Yard availability at San Pedro, California, returning to Ulithi on 18 April. The next day she was en route to Okinawa to supply fuel to the forces in that campaign. Before mid-July, she returned to that area three times, replenishing, after each fueling period, at Ulithi.
End-of-war activity
On 10 July, Mascoma departed Ulithi to rendezvous with units of task groupTask force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
TG 38.1, then involved in attacks on the Japanese home islands. She returned to Ulithi on 1 August, replenished her supplies and was underway again by the 8th. On the 9th engine trouble once again forced Mascoma to drop out of formation. Ordered to Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, she was unable to rejoin her task group until the 20th, by which time hostilities had ended. She continued fueling at sea operations until the 28th, when she steamed for Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. In Japan she carried out harbor fueling assignments at Sagami Wan, before proceeding to Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
, where she witnessed the official surrender on 2 September. The next day, 3 September, she returned to Ulithi for fueling assignments and, again, repairs to her boilers.
On 24 October, the oiler departed for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, arriving on 26 November at Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, where she decommissioned on 17 December. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 8 January 1946, she was transferred to the Maritime Commission on 27 June 1946. Returned to the Navy, she was accepted by the 3rd Naval District and reactivated on 4 February 1948. In August 1949 she was berthed at Orange, Texas
Orange, Texas
Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
, as a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, but was reactivated again on 27 July 1950.
Supporting the Korean War effort
From that time through 1959 she served as a non-commissioned Naval vessel USNS Mascoma (T-AO-83), manned by civilian personnel under contract to the Military Sea Transportation Service. In that capacity, Mascoma continued her record of wartime support by serving off the KoreaKorea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n coast from 14 February 1954 through the signing of the Armistice on 27 July, remaining in the area until 13 August 1953. For this service, performed as a merchant ship, she received the Korean Service Medal
Korean Service Medal
The Korean Service Medal is an award of the United States military and was created in November 1950 by executive order of President Harry Truman. The Korean Service Medal is the primary United States medal for participation in the Korean War and is awarded to any U.S. service member, who...
and the United Nations Korea Medal.
Decommissioning
She was struck from the Naval Vessel RegisterNaval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 18 June 1959 and sold to Seatrain Lines
Seatrain Lines
Seatrain Lines was a shipping company most responsible for the introduction of the standard international intermodal container, most commonly high by 8 feet wide by long...
Inc., for conversion to a containerized cargo ship. She was eventually scrapped, but the date is not recorded.