Kawishiwi (AO 146) - Naval Cruise Book

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KAWISHIWI is literally a city afloat ! Her huge generators produce enough electric power to meet the needs of a sizable community. She boasts such conveniences as a laundry, tailor shop, clothing store, soda fountain, ship ' s store ( selling film, razor blades, toothpaste, and dozens of other personal and gift items), library, U. S. Post Office, bakery, machine shop, barber shop, cobbler shop, hospital, and hobby shop. The ship carries the most modern movie projection equipment, and nightly movies aboard are part of the ship ' s routine both underway and in port. Though most ladies won ' t tell their age quite so readily, KAWISHIWI ' s youth is no secret. She was built by the New York Shipbuilding Co. of Camden, N. J., the keel was laid in October 1953, she was launched in December 1954, and commissioned in July 1955. Her original home port was Long Beach, California where she arrived after a voyage from the East Coast via the Panama Canal. Pearl Harbor has been home to KAWISHIWI and her crew since January 1958. Her record is a a proud one, including two consecutive years as winner of the coveted Battle Efficiency Award, followed by two years as runner-up. An interesting KAWISHIWI first took place in December 1958, at which time a weight simulating an actual load was transferred between USS VESUVIUS and ourselves. This weight of 10,000 pounds set a record for the heaviest load ever transferred between two ships underway. KAWISHIWI is currently the proud holder, again for the second consecutive year, of a plaque awarded for the meritorious conduct of her crew while ashore in Hong Kong, British Crown Colony. Justly deserving, justly proud, KAWISHIWI men strive to present a picture as the Navy ' s finest. Our officers and men come from every state in the Union including Alaska and Hawaii. We also number as shipmates nationals of Guam and the Republic of the Philippines. This interesting mixture of racial and cultural backgrounds aboard ship is very appropriate to the cosmopolitan setting of Hawaii, and KAWISHIWI is proud indeed to carry the ALOHA spirit with her in calling at various ports throughout the vast Pacific. Shipmate is a term peculiar to the seafaring fraternity the world over; it is an all-embracing term that covers a multitude of human emotions, but in KAWISHIWI, especially, it means that you ' re part of the heartbeat of a mighty ship.

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THE KAWISHIWI STORY You are aboard the USS KAWISHIWI (AO-146), one of the mighty super-oilers servicing the United States Pacific Fleet, providing vital petroleum products to aircraft carrier and destroyer alike, and enabling Fleet units to remain at sea for weeks, or even months, at a time without having to return to port to refuel. KAWISHIWI is one of a group of six sister ships commonly known a Navy super-oilers, three of which serve in the Pacific as vital members of the logistical life-line that keeps the Fleet mobile and ready to meet any challenge. All Navy oilers are named for United States rivers that bear American Indian names; thus KAWISHIWI (pronounced Ka- Wee-She- Wee ) is derived from the river of that name which is located in the extreme northeast portion of the State of Minnesota. The word itself comes from the Ojibway Indians and in English means River full of Beavers ' Houses. Our ship is designed for high speed replenishment of the fuel needs of today ' s far flung naval forces. This highly specialized evolution of underway replenishment can be carried on during daylight hours or under cover of night, and is not necessarily limited to the transfer of fuel and petroleum products ; it can and does provide the capability of transferring cargo, mail, passengers, and provisions, in addition to the primary items : diesel fuel, black oil, aviation gasoline and jet fuel and it is not at all unusual to be pumping these last three products simultaneously by making use of the four completely independent fueling rigs on each side of the ship. KAWISHIWI ' s consistently outstanding performance record makes her a pace-setter of the modern Navy. Fast and sleek, with a can do spirit in the face of any situation, KAWISHIWI, as befits any beautiful lady, is proud of her vital statistics. She is 656 feet long, has a beam of 83 feet, displaces 38,000 tons at full load, and can steam at twenty knots and above. Her liquid cargo capacity is in excess of 7,000,000 gallons, enough fuel to keep a heavy cruiser continuously at sea for at least nine months.

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SCENES