Canisteo (AO 99) - Naval Cruise Book

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Specifications of the CANISTEO. Mission: Crew: Dimensions: Refuel and replenish the fleet at sea. 21 Officers 335 Ennlisted Men Length - 644 feet . ' Beam - 75 feet Draft - 36 feet Propulsion Plant: Electrical Plant: 4 boilers. Twin Shafts 13,500 S.H.P. Maximum speed - 18 knots ' 2 Ship ' s Service Turbogenerators 3 Ship ' s Auxiliary Diesel Genera- tors I Cargo Capoci- ties: Armament: Diesel Fuel Marine - 4,431,369 gallons Jet Fuel (JP-5) - 2,268,780 gollc Frozen Stores - 48.9 tons Dry Stores - 126.7 tons Consumable Materials - 63.8 tc Cargo Ammunition - 550 tons 2 3 50 Caliber Duel Purpose Guns Note: As originally built, CANISTEO carried the follo ing armament: 1 5 38-caliber Dual Purpose Gun 4 3 50-caliber Anti-Aircroft Guns 8 40mm Anti-Aircroft Guns Note: For the deployment to the Med, CANISTEO temporarily carried a electronic warfare (EW) von on the fo ' c ' sle. Additionally, prior to the deployment, she was fitted for two ready-service Stinger Anti-Air- craft Missile Stations, fore and oft. CANISTEO was to receive these shoulder launched weapons, should she have received orders to support the Seventh Fleet in the Indian Ocean.

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Ordered to Guatanamo Bay again, CANISTEO left Norfolk in June of 1970. Enroute, however, she received new orders dispatching her to rendezvous with the USS GUAM (LPH 9), which was flying disaster assistance missions to earthquake-ravaged Peru. CANISTEO passed through the Panama Canal, cross- ed he equator and met the GUAM long enough to refuel her. She then turned immediately around to retrace her track. Twenty-six days, two oceans and six thousand miles later she tied up in Norfolk When she finally did reach Gitmo she received the highest grade awarded any ship type in over two and one half yeo ' s CANISTEO spent most of the seventies passing between the Second Fleet and the Sixth Fleet and excelling in both. During her 1972-73 deployment she had the reputation of providing the best quality fuels in the Mediterranean. In the ten years between 1969 and 1978, she earned the following efficiency awards: eight In Engineering, five in Battle, four in Communications, two in CIC, one in Supply and one in Seamanship. She was named Second Fleet Top Overall Operator in 1977 for her performance in that year ' s CARIBEX exercise Returning from her 1978-79 Med deployment, CANISTEO received the nickname Supership Can-Do, when her fleet, group and squadron commanders in both the Sec- ond and the Sixth Fleets addressed her as such in commending messages. CANISTEO spent most of the 1980 ' s making short patrols to North Atlantic and Caribbean operating areas. In the Caribbean in 1986 and 1987, she earn- ed two successive Meritorious Unit Commendations from the Coast Guard for the assistance she ren- dered in countering ille gal drug smuggling efforts. In late 1987 CANISTEO earned uncommon praise during a deployment to the Mediterranean. Enroute to the Med she aided the salvage ship USS GRAPPLE towing minesweepers to the Persian Gulf. GRAPPLE had encountered heavy weather and was running low on fuel CANISTEO devised on impromptu rig to refuel GRAPPLE without wasting time breaking her tows. Commander. Naval Surface Force, Atlantic Fleet placed this accomplishment in a class by it- self After only two months in the Med, she was again at the head of the fleet, delivering fuel, ammo and goods thirty to fifty percent faster than the Sixth Fleet was accustomed. The commander of the logistics ships attached to the Sixth Fleet identi- fied CANISTEO ' s performance as a benchmark for fleet, and her operational commander claimed she was the best logistics ship he had ever seen. The USS CANISTEO is many things to many peo- ple. To the sailor first reporting aboard, she is a name often mispronounced. To the worker at Cra- ney Island Fuel Depot she is just another oiler to be loaded. To the destroyer riding high and rough, she is the ship showing hull down on the horizon ready to supply fuel, bring moil from home, exchange movies and give a friendly greeting in the middle of the sea. For her engineers, she requires many long hours to maintain her aging plant. For the rest of the crew, she requires equally long hours on the rigs and at un- rep stations. For all of us, though, she is home for a good port of our time, with all the happiness, sorrow and peace that any home offers. CANISTEO carries no big guns, no supersonic air- craft, and no missile launchers, but she does carry the fuel, weapons and supplies which give the fight- ing ships their long arms and legs. And we know when they pull away fat and heavy that we are on indispensible member of the United States Navy.

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THE SHIP ' S COMPANY Communications Division The radiomen and signalmen of OC Divi- sion provide CANISTEO with reliable, secure and rapid communications. Radiomen use highly sophisticated digi- tal-electronic equipment to relay voice and teletype messages around the world, while signalmen use more t raditional methods such as flaghoists, flashing light and semaphore to transmit messages between ships, OC Division transmits, receives and pro- cesses messages twenty-four hours a day. These messages range from highly classified information to personal telegrams and tele- phone calls. In addition to their communica- tion duties, CANISTEO ' s signalmen are in many respects the eyes of the ship. With the aid of their high-powered binoculars, known as Big Eyes, and the 12 searchlight, watchstanders on the signal bridge can per- ceive visual contacts undetectable to the naked eye During 1987 the two workcenters ex- celecl in several exercises. While the ship was in the Med, they participated in a NAVCOMMEX 99, allowing CANISTEO to communicate with several NATO allies simul- taneously. Late in the year the division made a joint score of 96% on a graded TYCOMEX. No ship in SERVRON FOUR has scored this high in several years. Additionally, Radio has main- tained a CIM rate far below the 5% fleet av- erage for six consecutive quarters, making CANISTEO the only ship in SERVRON FOUR to have ever done so well. OPERATIONS ENS K. W. Solfermoser Communications Officer RMC E. E, Riggle, Sr. Leading Chief Petty Officer 11