USNS Shoshone

For other ships with the same name, see USS Shoshone.

USNS Shoshone (T-AO-151), later T-AO-151T, was a United States Navy Maumee-class oiler, later transport oiler, in non-commissioned service with the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), later Military Sealift Command, from 1957 until probably the mid-1980s.

USNS Shoshone

USNS Shoshone (T-AO-151)
History
United States
Name	USNS Shoshone
Namesake	The Shoshone River in Wyoming
Builder	Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania
Laid down	15 August 1955
Launched	17 January 1957
In service	April 1957 until probably mid-1980s
Out of service	Probably mid-1980s until 23 December 1994
Stricken	Date unknown; transferred to Maritime Administration 1 October 1994 for lay-up in National Defense Reserve Fleet
Reinstated	11 May 2002 (reacquired for further transfer to the Office of Naval Research); fate unknown
Identification	IMO number: 7737195
Fate	Scrapped 2014
General characteristics
Class and type	Maumee-class fleet oiler
Displacement	7,814 tons light 32,953 tons full load
Length	614 ft 6 in (187.30 m)
Beam	83 ft 6 in (25.45 m)
Draft	32 ft (9.8 m)
Propulsion	Steam turbine, one shaft
Speed	18.9 knots (35 km/h)
Capacity	190,000 barrels (30,000 m3)
Complement	44 to 52
Armament	none
Notes	Later reclassified as a transport oiler and redesignated T-AO-151T

Shoshone, third U.S. Navy ship to bear the name, was laid down at Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Chester, Pennsylvania, on 15 August 1955 and launched on 17 January 1957, sponsored by Mrs. James E. Van Zandt. She entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service under the control of the Military Sea Transport Service, later the Military Sealift Command, with a primarily civilian crew in April 1957.

Shoshone went into operation for MSTS as a civilian-crewed ship. Her role was point‑to‑point delivery of fuel oil and gasoline to the U.S. armed forces at a variety of Atlantic and Pacific ports. She eventually was reclassified as a "transport oiler", resulting her redesignation from "T-AO-151" (as an oiler) to "T-AO-151T" (as a transport oiler). By 1974 she was operating from United States Gulf Coast ports.

Shoshone was placed out of service at an unrecorded date, probably in the mid-1980s. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register, also at an unrecorded date, and was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 1 October 1994 to be laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay at Benicia, California.

In 2001 she was used as an experimental platform by MH Systems to demonstrate the American Underpressure System (AUPS); a pressurized gas system intended to stop or significantly decrease the amount of oil spillage from single and double-hulled tankers in the event of a hull rupture. Following the test, the Shoshone was returned to the Reserve Fleet in August 2001. Google Earth images from August 25, 2009 still show the Shoshone as being part of the Suisun Bay National Defense Reserve Fleet. (38°3′52″N 122°6′18″W)

She was scrapped in 2014.

References

General

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive: USNS Shoshone (T-AO-151)

Specific