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USS Yahara (AOG-37)
Encyclopedia
USS Yahara (AOG-37) was a acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of transporting gasoline to warships in the fleet, and to remote Navy stations.
Yahara was named by the U.S. Navy after the Yahara, a river which rises at a small lake in Dane County, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and flows south and southeast through Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, to empty into the Rock River about nine miles northwest of Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 62,998.-History:...
.
Yahara was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1800) on 6 June 1944 at Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
, by the East Coast Shipyard, Inc.; launched on 30 July 1944; sponsored by Miss Cynthia Tenety; converted for naval service at Brooklyn, New York, by the Marine Basin Co.; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 29 September 1944, Lt. N. Clark Biggs, USNR, in command.
Pacific Ocean operations
The new gasoline tanker got underway for Norfolk, VirginiaNorfolk, 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....
, on 30 October. Following shakedown in Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
, Yahara sailed for the Netherlands West Indies on 22 November to take on a cargo of aviation gasoline and diesel oil at Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
. Loaded to capacity, she sailed on 1 December for the west coast; transited the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
on the 6th; and proceeded via San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
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Upon her arrival at 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...
on 2 January 1945, the ship joined Service Squadron (ServRon) 8. Departing Pearl Harbor on 5 January for the Phoenix group, she delivered her cargo of aviation gas and oil to Canton Island on the 13th and returned to Pearl Harbor two days later.
She continued her fuel shuttle operations in the Hawaiian chain through most of February, making runs to Johnston Island and Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
. The tanker sailed for the Marshalls
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
on the 25th as part of Task Unit 16.8.13. En route, she delivered a cargo of aviation gasoline to the naval air station at Johnston Island for use by planes engaged in the search for Lt. Gen. Millard F. Harmon, whose plane had been lost at sea. The ship arrived at Eniwetok on 13 March and, after waiting four days for a convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
bound for the Western Carolines
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
, got underway on St. Patrick's Day and proceeded independently to 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...
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Joining ServRon
ServRon
A ServRon is a standard United States Navy abbreviation for "Service Squadron."A Service Squadron was a squadron of U.S. Navy ships that served the fleet. The squadron included ships such as tankers, oilers, refrigerator ships, ammunition ships, supply ships, repair ships, and the like...
10 a week later, she took on a cargo of gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
, diesel oil, and lubricating oil. However, she stood by at Ulithi, awaiting instructions through all of April and the first half of May before the long-awaited orders arrived and directed her to join Task Force
Task 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...
51.
Okinawa operations
On 19 May, Yahara got underway for Kerama RettoKerama Retto
The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....
, in company with Convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
UOK 16. Rerouted en route, to the beachhead at Hagushi
Hagushi
Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...
, the tanker arrived off Okinawa on 28 May. She remained in the Okinawa area through the cessation of hostilities in August, at Naha, le Shima, Chimu Wan, and Buckner Bay. During this period, she provided shuttle tanker services, transporting fuel from large tankers offshore to shore installations, and served as a small craft fueling center.
Typhoon damage
In the course of her operations, she weathered three typhoons (19 July to 21 July; 1 August to 3 August; 16 September to 18 September) and, after the September "blow", was forced to assume emergency harbor duty, as all of the smaller yard oilers had been driven aground by the fury of the storm. A fourth typhoon struck on 9 October; and Yahara, while riding it out, lost her starboard anchorAnchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...
when its chain parted. The ship dragged her port anchor some three miles while winds in excess of 125 knots (245 km/h) lashed Buckner Bay.
World War II ends
Her duty completed and the war over, Yahara sailed for home on 14 December, in company with sister ship . Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 5 January 1946, Yahara resumed her voyage to the U.S. West Coast on the 9th and arrived at San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
on the 20th. She spent the remainder of the month on the California
California
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...
seaboard before heading for the Panama Canal and the U.S. East Coast.
East Coast assignment
From 4 March to 25 April, Yahara served the 16th Fleet (the Atlantic Fleet Reserve), providing diesel oil to ships on reserve duty at Lake Charles, LouisianaLake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
, and Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
.
Decommissioning
Decommissioned at New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
on 21 May, Yahara was struck from the Navy list
Navy List
A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....
on 19 July 1946 and transferred to the War Shipping Administration
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....
, Maritime Commission, on 5 November 1946.
Post-Decommissioning activity
Late in 1947, Yahara was acquired by the Texas Oil CompanyTexaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
and renamed El Caribe. She subsequently operated under a succession of flags — Norwegian, British, and French — into the 1950s before her documentary trail becomes cloudy. Homeported at Oslo, Norway, from 1947 to 1952, she served the Texas Oil Company's Norwegian subsidiary and then sailed under the British flag with first the Verbomilia Steamship Co. and later with the Cousotanker Co., Ltd. (both of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) in 1953 and 1954. Her last recorded registry was French; and, still as El Caribe, she homeported at Marseilles, France, from 1954 to 1958, with the Societe Meridionale d'Armement. Renamed Crysanthi P, she is carried on the American Bureau of Shipping
American Bureau of Shipping
The American Bureau of Shipping is a classification society, with a mission to promote the security of life, property and the natural environment, primarily through the development and verification of standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine-related facilities...
's Record from 1958 to 1960 under this name but without any clue as to her nationality or ownership. Thereafter, all trace of the ship seems to have disappeared.