USS Kennebec (AO-36)

The fleet oiler later had an eventful career, in so far as it was decommissioned four times and twice stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. Kennebec was decommissioned on 4 September 1950 at San Diego, California, and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet for only four months. It was already recommissioned on 11 January 1951, at Oakland, California, with Commander A.G. Beckman in command. On 25 September 1954 it was decommissioned, again at San Diego and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group. The next time it was recommissioned on 14 December 1956, Cdr. Naden F. Stimac commanding the ship, only to be decommissioned again on 31 October 1957. This time the ship was stricken from the Naval Register on 14 January 1959 and transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for laying up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. However, Kennebec was reacquired by the U.S. Navy and recommissioned on 16 December 1961. It served the Pacific Fleet during the Vietnam War up to 1970.

The ship decommissioned for the last time on 29 June 1970 at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Mare Island, Vallejo, California, and transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for laying up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Kennebec was again stricken from the Naval Register on 15 July 1976. On 6 April 1982 it was sold by MARAD to Levin Metals Corporation for $180,077.00, and subsequently scrapped.

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

• T2 Tanker site
• 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.

• Photo gallery of USS Kennebec at NavSource Naval History