Chemung (AO 30) - Naval Cruise Book

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S», «?«li !a;s ' ; ii!S Sl« m ;iS 3k i= M ing from the loading ports of the Mexican Gulf to rendezvous at sea with the combat- ant units of the Atlantic Fleet, she worked tirelessly to maintain the lifeline to Eng- land, Russia, and Africa. Those were tense years for ships in convoy, and CHEMUNG was saved on one occasion only by the ex- cellence of her damage control organiza- tion from a disaster which had already de- stroyed another ship. As it was, thirty feet of her bow had to be replaced. Such was the spirit of her crew, however, that CHEMUNG was soon back on the line. In all, she crossed the subm a r ine- infested North Atlantic twenty-eight times during the war, sometimes with only one escort. In fact, on one urgent occasion, in April 1942, CHEMUNG made a round trip to Iceland alone, dependent solely on her high speed and vigilance of her gun crews for safety. 1942 also saw CHEMUNG ' s par- ticipation in the North African Invasion. In following years, she provided support for the landings on Sicily, Anzio, and southern France. As a fitting reward for her long record of efficiency and reliability, she was selected as the oiler to refuel Pres- ident Roosevelt ' s speedy convoy on his trip to the Yalta Conference. After the European enemy capitulated, CHEMUNG was transferred to the Pacific Fleet for the duration of the war. With the surrender of Japan, her task was done, and so she headed for home in October 1945 — on a westward course. When the war-weary but justifiably proud AO-30 arrived back in Norfolk, Virginia, just in time for Christ- mas, she had within 142 days completely circled the globe, travelling 31,027 miles in ten different seas. Back in the Atlantic from 1946 to 1950, CHEMUNG ' s men set about repairing the ravages inflicted by the sea and the hard- ships of wartime steaming. 1950 brought a shortlived de-commissioning, which was ended by the exigencies of the Korean War. Once again, CHEMUNG w-as pressed into service during time of national emergency. Deployed in Far Eastern waters during the Korean conflict, she renewed her rep- utation as one of the most active and effi- cient ships of her type in refueling units of the United Nations Forces. Since the Korean truce, CHEMUNG has followed the operating cycle common to most Pacific Fleet oilers. In these troubled times, however, she has contributed to several special missions notably the evacuation of the Communist-threatened Tachen Islands off the China coast in 1955, the nuclear tests at Johnson Island in 1961, and the Formosan patrol in 1963. She has refueled units of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the navies of South Korea, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. In a lighter vein, CHEMUNG transported an art col- lection to Japan in 1961, carried Christ- mas trees and wreaths to U.S. Navy ships in the South China Sea in 1957, and p aid a goodwill visit to Australia in 1956. One of the most interesting assignments of the past decade was a secret deployment to the Indian Ocean to refuel USS ESSEX (CVA-9) and a destroyer division at a time of high international tension in 1958. And unless it be thought that all of CHEMUNG ' s operations have benef it ed from a tropical climate, one should know that the ship made several trips into the Bering Sea in the early Sixties to refuel the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey ship SURVEYOR, stationed off Point Hope, Alaska. CHEMUNG is now assigned to the home port of Long Beach, California, and alternates between 7-9 months in the Western Pacific and 6 months at home. Al- though she has celebrated her 25th anni- versary as a Navy ship, recent deploy- ments to the Far East have opened a new chapter in her history of reliable service. The war in Viet Nam has meant high- geared operations and long hours of hard work for the Seventh Fleet. Winning the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and the Viet Nam Service Medal, CHEMUNG has risen to the challenge of them ode rn Navy. The completion of her most recent deployment in September 1966 marks an- other achievement in a tradition spanning a quarter century.

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LC DR Flynn reported aboard CHEMUNG in March, 1965, after a two- year tour of duty with the training division of the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Wash- ington, D.C, He is a marine engineering graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Since embarking on a naval career, he has served on the USS ALAMEDA COUNTY (LST-32),USS TARAWA (CVS-40), USS IREX (SS-482)— he is a graduate of Submarine School— and USS MULIPHEN (AKA-61). LCDR Flynn and his wife, the former Carol Cudihy, come from Salem, Massachusetts, and they have two small children. i Utcncf ( t e S ifr USS CHEMUNG (A0-30),one of the old- est fleet oilers in the United States Navy, is 553 feet long, 75 feet wide, and displaces approximately 25,000 tons of water when fully loaded. Carrying 300 men and 15 of- ficers, CHEMUNG ' S primary mission is delivering fuel oil, gasoline and other pe- troleum products to combatant ships of the fleet while underway, in order to en able them to carry out sustained operations. In her cargo tanks CHEMUNG can carry up to 5,082,000 gallons of Navy Special Fuel Oil, 780,000 gallons of jet fuel (JP-5), and 588,000 gallons of high octane aviation gas- oline. The ship ' s maximum speed is 18 knots, and her present armament consists of four 3-inch 50-caliber dual-purpose mounts. Originally built as a merchant tanker, the ESSO-ANNAPOLIS, CHEMUNG owes her naval career to the rapid build-up of a mobile support force just prior to World War n. The Navy pure has ed her from Standard Oil of New Jersey, re-fitted her as a naval vessel in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and commissioned her on 3 July 1941. She was pressed into service imme- diately. From her commissioning to the end of the war, CHEMUNG was never idle. Speed-

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efrofttmcKt caxC Is 51 ' . ' V 1 LT H, W. Dundore Engineer Officer LT F. J, Casselberry First Lieutenant . u t LT E. S. Ligon III Operations Officer LTJG T. Proffer Supply Officer • f ' { ■f ' ' ; ' V V ' , .■ ' ' ■ ' • ' .! ' .V 1