Sabine (AO 25) - Naval Cruise Book

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SABlNE's combot record in the Asiotic-Pocific theoter of World Wor II is on illustrious one. It consisted of nineteen seporote engagements beginning with the roids on the Morsholl ond Gilbert lslonds in i942 followed by the Gilbert Islond operotiori lote in WAS. Then in Jonuory ond eorly Februory of i9Zl11, SABINE porticipoted in the occupotion of Kwoiolein ond Moiuro Atolls. Next the ship wos concurrently engoged in the Truk ottock, the Morionos ottock, ond the Polon roid. Then between the llth of June ond the i5th of August i944 SABINE participated simultoneously in the copture ond occupotion of Soipon, the third Bonine roid, ond the copture ond occupotion of Guom. With the coming of Gctober i944 the Allied invosion of Leyte begon, with SABlNF porticipoting octively in the operotion. For olmost six months the ship performed it's normol fueling function in the Philippine woters. From Morch through June of l9115 she ossisted the Third ond Fifth Fleets in their roids in support of the Okinowo Qperotion. SABlNE's closing combot mission wos in support of the Third Fleet off of the Joponese moinlond from mid-July T945 through the end of the wor. On TO September i945 the proud ouxiliory onchored in Tokyo Boy olong with mony of the combotent units she hod kept on stotion in the fleet thot come to stoy. The officiol novy history of the ship includes the stotement the SAl3lNF's record of service during the wor is uneouoled by ony other fleet oiler. SAl3lNE's first post-wor ossignment took her from Tokyo Boy to the Yongtze Qiver. From Chino she went to Singopore, to the Persion Gulf, Ceylon, the Philippines, ond to Peorl l-lorbor still trons- ferring fuel to ships ond boses to meet the needs of o Novy now ot peoce. ln i948 the U.S.S. SAEBINF returned to the United Stotes ond in eorly i949 WGS TVGViSfGrrSCl tothe Atlontic Fleet for service with the Second ond Sixth Fleets os o point-to-point tonker. ln i954 she wos turned over to the Militory Seo Tronsport Service for Operotions bock in the Pocific ond in Februory of i955 she wos decommissioned ot the Long Beoch Novol Shipyord. A yeor ond o halt later she wos recommissioned ot Long Beoch ond operoted ogoin by Militory Seo Tronsport Service with o Novy crew. ln i958 she wos ogoin decommissioned ond wos then ploced in the Moritime Reserve Fleet in Qronge, Texos, where she remoined until August of l96l, ot which time she wos reocguired by the US. Novy ond brought to New York for reoctivotion. Qecommissioned the lL1th of December i961 ot the Bethlehem Steel Compony Shipyord, Brooklyn, New York, the SABINF, is presently homeported in Moyport, Florido. Following o shokedown cruise to Guontonomo Boy, Cubo, she begon her operotions os o port of the United Stotes Second Fleet. Upon recommissioning the SABlNF, Chief of Novol Qperotions George W. Anderson cited her World Wor II record ond stoted thot l-ler return to octive service is on importont step in increosing the reodiness position of our country. To ossure our reodiness the fleet must be mobile. lt is CSA- BlNF's vitol mission to contribute ogoin to thot mobility by keeping the other ships supplied with oil, the lifeblood of the fleet. H fm A' jj

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avi' U.3.3. 3ABlNE lA0-251,TOrmGrly The E330 ALBANY, was The elevenTh in a program oT Twelve Tankers builT shorTly beTore World War 11 by The 3Tandard Oil Company wiTh The aid oT The U,S, Mari- Time Commission. As a resulT oT The limiTed naTional emergency declared by PresidenT RoosevelT These Twelve commercial Tankers were designed To incorporaTe many naTional defense TeaTures, a- mong Them Triple The horsepower oT ordinary commercial Tankers, and Thus They became known in The press as The NaTional DeTense l:eaTures Tankers. To meeT The needs oT a rapidly expanding naval TleeT, The E330 ALBANY was Taken over by The Navy on her delivery daTe, 3epTember 25, 19110, and was commissioned in The U,3, Navy OFT 'fl'10T same day. ln keeping wiTh The Navy's esTablished cusTom oT naming iT'soilers Tor rivers oT The UniTed 3TaTes, The E330 ALBANY was renamed U.3.3. 3ABlNE Tor The 3abine River which Tlows along The border oT Texas and Louisiana, empTying inTo The GulT oT Mexico. 3he is The second ship To bear The name 3ABlNE. The TirsT 3ABlNE was a wooden hulled, sail powered TrigaTe commissioned in 1858. ATTer a Trip To Paraguay on her TirsT cruise, SABINE 1 paTrolled The GulT of Mexico Trom 1861 Through 1865 OS 0 parT of The NorThern TleeT ThaT blockaded The 3ouTh. 1-Ter only recorded encounTer was wiTh The Con- TederaTe ship ALABAMA in 1865. 3he was evenTually decommissioned in 1888. Our presenT SABINE has an overall lengTh oT 558 TeeT, a 75 TooT beam, a displacemenT of approx- imaTely 27,000 Tons, and a capaciTy oT 110,000 barrels enough To Till abouT a hundred sTandard Tank Cars. Her TirsT load oT cargo was Taken aboard in December of 19110 aT BayTown, Texas-noT Tar Trom The river which gave her a name. Sailing aT once Tor The Canal Zone, 3ABlNE enTered The Pacific The- aTer and operaTed primarily as a poinT-To-poinT Tanker unTil January of 19112. 3he Then began in ear- nesT her service as a TleeT oiler. Rendezvous Tollowed rendezvous as she Tueled TleeT uniTs which slowly pushed The enemy back across The PaciTic. SABINE ranged Tar and wide Through The COFHTJGT zone of The Pacific, sailing someTimes alone and someTimes wiTh a convoy or Task Torce buT always Turning up aT The righT place and The rlghT Time wiTh her vlTal cargo ThaT kept our TleeT aT sea SABINE soon earned a repuTaTion as a lucky ship Tor she was one oT Those vessels which seemed always To be narrowly escaping disasTer yeT never missing a rendezvous Two ollers CU33 SARA NAC and U33 NEOSHOT were Torpedoed and sunk shorTly aTTer relieving The 3ABlNE G5 SGVVICG uniT off Guam 1The NEOSHO was The second Navy oller oT ThaT name The TirsT NEOSHO sunk in The baTTle of The Coral Sea was like 3ABlNE a NaTlonal Defense FeaTures Tanker 1 I . I , . u 1 . . T . I In I 1 7,11

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THOMAS J. LAFOREST CAPTAIN, USN Born in Highland Park, Michigan, on 9 SepTember l9l7. RGrer'1TS, MV- C1r'ICl Mrs. Tl'1OmGS A- L0- ToresT, reside aT l5056 Minock Avenue, DeTroiT, Michigan. ATTended grade and high school aT ST. Gregory School, ,DeTroiT, and in T939 QVGCJUOTSCT from The UniversiTy of Michigan wiTh a Bachelor of ArTs Degree. During!i9A,O, .worked in ST. Louis, Missouri as a Bond UnderwriTer Tor The FideliTy and CasualTy Company oT New York. EnTered naval service Trom ST. Louis, Missouri, in AugusT T940 as an ApprenTice'Seaman in The Naval Reserve V-7 program. Received Midshipman Training aboard USS ILLINOIS OT New York. Commissioned Ensign, USNR, in February i9L1i, andordered direcTly To The AsiaTic FleeT in Manila, Pl, serving in USS Wl'llRRLE CDD-2175 as fCommunicaTions OTTicer. LaTer served in Two oTher desTroyers, USS CHARRETTE TDD-5815 as FirsT I-ieuTenanT and USS JOHN D. HENLEY lDDf553i as ExecuTive OTTicer. ParTicipaTed in Twelve maior engagemenTs during World War ll, all in The AsiaTic-PaciTic TheaTer oT OperaTions. A Upon conclusion of World War ll Transferred To' The regular Navy and 'enioyed a year shore duTy under insTrucTion aT The General Eine'School in NewporT, R. l. From T947 To T949 COmm0UdSCl TWO radar pickeT desTroyer escorTs, USS ALEXANDER J. LUKE and USS WlLLlAM T. ROWELL, boTh in The ATlanTic FleeT. 'ATTached To The FleeT Training Group, Chesapeake Bay as Foreign Treining OTTicer Trom T949 To l95l. In December i95l Took command of USS MDALE TDD-6935 and shorTly ThereaTTer received noTiTicaTion oT appoinTmenT To The rank oT Commander in The U.S. Navy. While commanding MOALE in l953, during a Tour of combaT duTy in Korea, received praise oT CTF 77 Tor excellence in rescue operaTions involving downed aviaTors. Served as AssisTanT OperaTions OTTicer oT DESFLOT FOUR during T954 and in T955 compleTed G posT graduaTe course of insTrucTion in Naval lnTelligence having during This period also become pro- TicienT in The ITalian language. During The period T955 TO T958 served as AssisTanT Naval ATTache in The-U.S. Embassy aT Rome, lTa y. From SepTember T958 To February T960 served as Flag SecreTary To Commander SixTh FleeT suc- cessively under Vice Admiral C. E. EksTrom and Vice Admiral G. W. Andersofb Jr. During This period oT operaTions ThroughouT The MediTerranean area Tamilv residencewas mainTained on The Riviera aT ST. Jean-Cap FerraT, France. ' Ordered To shore duTy in March T960 in The OTTice oT Naval lnTell,igence as AssisTanT To The Di- i5e?cT52r of Naval inTe-lligence Tor Foreign Liaison MaTTers. l3romoTed To CapTain, U,Si, Navy on i MCJY 6 . Flin jepfember T962 order'd aTloaT in command of USS SABINE CAO 255 home ported aT MCIYPOYT or: a Married To The former Miss Maryalice McElmurry of WebsTer Grove Missouri I-Ier parenTs Mr and mrs JI F Wiley reside in ST PeTersburg Florida Two children Lorena Anne T7 and Linda arie 5 if Q n ' I . I ' I ' ' - - . 1 a . u I . I , I ' , - 1 4