USS Guadalupe (AO-32)

Guadalupe was launched as SS Esso Raleigh 26 January 1940 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia; sponsored by Mrs. W. L. Inslee, wife of the late manager of the Traffic Division, Marine Department, Standard Oil of New Jersey; taken over by the Maritime Commission as MC Hull #12; acquired by the Navy 1 June 1941; and commissioned 19 June 1941, Commander Harry R. Thurber in command.

Six weeks of coastwise voyages carrying oil from Texas to New Jersey ended 16 August as Guadalupe docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Receiving as deck cargo six PT boats later to form the famous squadron commanded by Lieutenant Commander John D. Bulkeley, Guadalupe sailed for the Western Pacific on 19 August. After discharging cargo and oil at Pearl Harbor, Manila, and Cavite, the tanker returned to Norfolk, Virginia 13 November via San Diego. After America's sudden plunge into war, she put into Baltimore to be fitted with guns.

In January 1942 Guadalupe sailed to the Pacific, where she was to participate in virtually every major campaign of the long and bloody war. After months of developing and refining techniques for refueling at sea, a science then in its infancy, Guadalupe sailed from Pearl Harbor 2 June 1942 to refuel American ships participating in the momentous Battle of Midway,5 June 1942: 550 miles E of Midway. About 0400 (I), I-156 sights fleet oiler USS GUADALUPE (AO-32) escorted by two destroyers but fails to reach a favorable firing position. Except for I-168, I-156 is the only submarine that makes a contact with the Americans during the battle. the first naval defeat inflicted on the Japanese in 350 years. From Midway Atoll Guadalupe sailed north to spend the rest of the summer supporting American forces in the Attu campaign.

As the United States launched its first offensive effort in the Pacific, Guadalupe sailed south to spend the final four months of 1942 fueling warships operating in and around Guadalcanal. The first half of 1943 saw her in overhaul in the United States and operating in the Aleutians, with two shuttle trips to Pearl Harbor with fuel and planes. Departing Pearl 22 August Guadalupe sailed to the central Pacific to support the Gilbert Islands campaign, working with such famous fighting ships as USS Essex, USS Independence, USS Washington, USS Enterprise, USS Lexington, and USS Yorktown.

After a late winter overhaul, she returned to the Pacific theater in February 1944 operating in support of Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's carrier force during the Truk campaign. A short break at Pearl Harbor ended as Guadalupe sailed 11 May to operate in support of the US 5th Fleet during the Marianas campaign. From there she sailed in late August to support Admiral William F. Halsey's US 3rd Fleet in action against the Japanese in the Palau Islands and Philippines operating areas. One of her major tasks was refueling ships during the climactic Battle of Leyte Gulf.

On 29 December 1944 Guadalupe sailed from Ulithi with units of Task Force 38, then preparing for the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. Joining a fast carrier strike force under Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr., Guadalupe steamed through Luzon Strait into the South China Sea on the night of 9–10 January 1945, concurrent with the first invasion waves on Lingayen Gulf. During the transit of the Strait, another tanker, USS Nantahala, collided with Guadalupe, putting a large hole in the bow. Jury-rigged repairs enabled Guadalupe to continue with the fast carrier group – which included Yorktown, USS Cowpens, and USS South Dakota – as they conducted strikes against Japanese positions on Formosa and along the China coast. This action diverted the enemy from the main action at Lingayen Gulf, and crippled his land-based air power.

USS Ajax (AR-6) repairing Guadalupe at Ulithi, 9 February 1945.

A month's availability at Ulithi to repair her damaged bow ended in late February and Guadalupe again steamed for battle, this time operating in support of the Iwo Jima invasion. After two weeks off Iwo Jima, 24 February to 7 March, Guadalupe returned empty to Ulithi to prepare for her role in the bloody Okinawa campaign. Departing Ulithi 25 March 1945, Guadalupe spent three weeks off Okinawa, returned to Ulithi for more fuel, and then spent another three weeks off Okinawa. As the fierce struggle raged for this rockbound island, last step before the Japanese home islands, Guadalupe operated through heavy weather and high seas to provide other services, as well as her normal duties of refueling the giant invasion fleet, largest ever assembled in the Pacific.

Okinawa marked the end of Guadalupe's service in the Pacific war. She sailed for the States and overhaul 24 May, and was two days out of Pearl Harbor on her way back to the struggle when the Japanese surrender ended the long war on 15 August 1945. From Pearl, Guadalupe went to Jinsen, Korea, where she replenished units of the US 7th Fleet occupying Yellow Sea ports. The tanker sailed for Okinawa 22 October and remained there through 1945.

In the post-war period Guadalupe remained on duty in the Pacific, supplying vital fuel oil to American units in Japan, China, Korea, the Philippines, and scores of islands. Some of this fuel oil she picked up at Bahrein, Arabia, as she sailed from the Far East to Norfolk via the Suez Canal and Gibraltar in 1948, returning over the same route.

When North Korean Communist troops crossed the 38th parallel on 24 June 1950, Guadalupe was undergoing repairs at Long Beach, California, but she was soon ready for an active part. Sailing for the Pacific 29 July, she spent three months shuttling fuel oil between Hawaii, Kwajalein, and Guam before joining the 7th Fleet at Sasebo, Japan, 1 December 1950. Operating with various units of the fleet, Guadalupe visited Okinawa, Hong Kong, and Formosa in addition to refueling American and United Nations ships in the Korean replenishment area. She also sailed along the Korean coast to support the siege of Wonsan harbor.

Guadalupe refueling HMAS Hobart (D 39) in 1967.

An uneasy peace settled over the war-torn peninsula in August 1953, while Guadalupe was undergoing overhaul in California, but she returned to the Pacific to support American forces on the Formosa Patrol and training operations. From that time, the tanker's year settled into a routine of six months deployment with the 7th Fleet and six months operating out of Long Beach. In her Far East operations, Guadalupe has visited every major Pacific port – Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo, Ceylon, Formosa – while playing her unsung but vital role in keeping the peace.

Guadalupe continued her service through the Vietnam War and made a brief appearance in the 1965 film "In Harm's Way" with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. She was decommissioned in 1974 and struck from the Navy List 14 May 1975. She was transferred to the Maritime Administration and sold for scrapping 16 October 1975.

• Meritorious Unit Commendation
• American Defense Service Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 13 battle stars
• World War II Victory Medal
• Navy Occupation Medal with "ASIA" clasp
• China Service Medal
• National Defense Service Medal with star
• Korean Service Medal with 5 battle stars
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with 2 stars
• Vietnam Service Medal with 15 campaign stars
• United Nations Korea Medal
• Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

• navsource.org: USS Guadalupe
• hazegray.org: USS Guadalupe
• Wildenberg, Thomas (1996). Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912–1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. Retrieved 28 April 2009.