USS Great Sitkin

	USS Great Sitkin (AE-17)
History
United States
Name	USS Great Sitkin
Namesake	Great Sitkin Volcano in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Builder	North Carolina Shipbuilding Company
Launched	20 January 1945
Commissioned	11 August 1945
Stricken	2 July 1973
Motto	Always Ready
Honors and; awards	2 stars for Vietnam War service
Fate	Scrapped 1974
General characteristics
Class and type	Mount Hood class ammunition ship
Displacement	15,295 t.(fl)
Length	459 feet 2 inches
Beam	63 feet
Draft	28 ft 3 in (8.6 m)
Propulsion	1 General Electric geared turbine engine; 2 Combustion Engineering "header-type" boilers, 450psi 750°; 2 General Electric Main Reduction Gears; 3 300kW 120V/240V D.C. Ship's Service Generators; 1 propeller, 6,000shp;
Speed	16 knots
Capacity	7,700 long tons (7,800 t) deadweight
Complement	267 Officers and Enlisted
Armament	1 single 5"/38 cal gun mount; 4 single 3"/50 cal gun mounts; 2 twin 40mm AA gun mounts; 8 twin 20mm AA gun mounts;

USS Great Sitkin (AE-17) was a Mount Hood class ammunition ship, which served in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1973.^[1] USS Great Sitkin supported USN operations in several major theatres, including the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, Cuban Missile Blockade, Guantanamo Bay, and the Vietnam War. In the tradition of naming ammunition ships after volcanos, AE-17 was named after the Great Sitkin Volcano in Alaska.

Early service

USS Great Sitkin was launched under Maritime Commission contract by North Carolina Shipbuilding Co., Wilmington, N.C., 20 January 1945, sponsored by Miss Anne L. Dimond, daughter of Judge Anthony J. Dimond, then congressional representative for Alaska, and commissioned at Charleston, South Carolina.

After shakedown out of Norfolk, Great Sitkin sailed to New York 25 November 1945 to begin dumping condemned ammunition in an assigned area off Sandy Hook, N.J. Great Sitkin continued this duty for a year, returning to Norfolk in November 1946. Great Sitkin's pattern of operations for the next few years took her to the Caribbean and the Panama Canal Zone on ammunition replenishment trips, as well as twice to Gibraltar. In addition, she participated in local operations.

Great Sitkin Challenge Coin

Mediterranean service

From 1951 Great Sitkin served as a mobile ready reserve source of ammunition. Great Sitkin regularly deployed to the Mediterranean to support regional operations of the Sixth Fleet, and served the fleet during crises in trouble spots such as Lebanon and Suez. When not deployed in the Mediterranean, she operated out of New York, participating in various fleet maneuvers in the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea.

Cuban Missile blockade

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, she sailed for the Caribbean Sea on 23 October 1962, following President Kennedy's announcement of a naval quarantine around Cuba. USS Great Sitkin cruised the Caribbean during the next several weeks carrying reserve ammunition for American ships on quarantine duty off Cuba.

Atlantic and Mediterranean service

Departing the Caribbean 16 December 1962, USS Great Sitkin returned to New York and resumed her pattern of operations in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. On 5 April 1963, Great Sitkin suffered slight damage during a fire of unknown origin while tied up at the Main Ship Repair Corporation in Brooklyn, New York.^[2]

Between August 1963 and July 1966 Great Sitkin deployed three times with the 6th Fleet, participating in several Fleet and NATO exercises. After a 3-month overhaul in the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Hoboken, N.J., in December 1966 USS Great Sitkin participated in training exercises off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Great Sitkin continued to support American ships in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean theaters.

Vietnam War service

In 1968, Great Sitkin supported the Seventh Fleet during U.S. Naval operations in the Vietnam War.^[3] USS Great Sitkin participated in the Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV and Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V, from May to October 1968.^[4] Great Sitkin was awarded 2 campaign stars for Vietnam War service.

Final disposition

USS Great Sitkin was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register on 2 July 1973. The ship was sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service for scrapping, 1 March 1974 to US Ship Co., Camden, New Jersey. for $152,666.60. USS Great Sitkin was dismantled from March to October 1974.^[5]