Refueling at Sea

Refueling at Sea
The Smoking Lamp Is Out Throughout The Ship
(Hull numbers still in WWII regulation size so this is probobly 1945-46.)

Approaching the oiler

Hoses on the way over

Hooked and transferring fuel.
Can you feel the turbulence between the ships?

Refueling at Sea is a dangerous job but is well practiced in the fleet. It is an all hands effort tho the snipes and deck have the hardest parts and work together superbly to get the job done quickly and safely. In a formation there is always a screen of destroyers searching out subs to protect the other ships, and the next ship in line will do lifeguard in case a man is swept over the side. It has happened. Personnel , movies, mail and other things are often highlined while along side. Refueling and rearming and replenishment are done at night as well as in the day.

These fotos were taken during the 1967 West Pacific cruise and show mostly the oiler which as can be seen is as old a veteran as the New was, and still doing her duty

USS New recieving fuel at forward station 1967

Above some unidentified sailor is getting the ride he will remember the rest of his life. The Highline. He got this ride for free. You have to pay to get a good ride at an amusment park

Photos thanks to Rich Bashlor QMSN 66-68

Above are two views of the cable stretching across from the carrier to the New.

Ships Like the New can refuel from larger ships that are equipped for it. Aircraft carriers make good gas stations at sea since they carry a lot of fuels and different variety's of fuels too. This is the USS Salerno Bay, a smaller carrier made during WWII to fill the need for more carriers. It was made on a mercantile hull of the Suwanee class and was quite a bit smaller than the ships that were designed as aircraft carriers. They filled the need for aircraft transport and were very valuable in anti submarine warefare. This was designated CVE for carrier escort. By 1943 when these began to hit the waves allied shipping was taking big losses to German U boats. Land based aircraft didn't have enough range to patrol far at sea and these filled the need and took the search across the oceans. These ships had been retired by the mid sixties and were no longer useful because of thier small size. Newer generations of carriers dwarfed these. Newer planes were to big to be landed on these also.By the late fifties most that were still in commision were being used primarily to ferry planes around the worlds bases or converted to Helo carriers.The planes seen on the deck look like the F8 F Bearcats which were made to replace the F6- F Hellcat, the Navy's best fighter against the Jap Zero. Bearcat didn't make it in time to see much action. It was used succesfully in the Korean war and was fazed out a few years later. Salerno Bay was stricken from the navys active list in 1961.

These photos were taken by Tom Nau about 1953 during a refueling excercise. The last one was taken as New pulled away.

See also the submarine refueling, a navy first.

Return to Quarterdeck

Fuel hoses can be seen in these photos

Gil Raynor was an MM3 in 1965 when he took this picture during Operation Springboard

These were taken from USS York County LST-1175 during an unrep on SOLANT AMITY II probably in June or July 1961 in the Indian Ocean.
The Commander of TG88 was Radm Eugene Fluckey. He was a Submariner
and had the Medal of Honor from WWII.

New pulling alongside of York County. Notice the DesRon 36 on the stack

Does anyone remember being on deck and may be in the pictures?
Thanks to Barny of the USS York County LST 1175 for these pictures. Barny did not leave a full name but he knows who he is. Thanks Barny

Below are a few pictures of USS DD 938.Jonas Ingram taken during the same operation.

At right New in her DDE days with hedge hog on O1 level during a highline transfer sometime in the 50's. Photo taken by Gene Hanna on the USS Holder DD 819.

Two good photos sent in by Jim Norris who was a LTJG and disbursing officer in 1951 and 52.

Taken in 1949 by MC Howard these two show the USS Mindoro CVE 120 refueling dirgibles or blimps. Blimps were used successfully in WW2 over the Atlantic for spotting German subs. They could be easy targets in an area where enemy aircraft might have operated or if the sub could surface and man it's gun. These operated with a destroyer or a destroyer escort in Hunter Killer groups and the sub seldom had a chance to surface to know he was even spotted. They operated out of bases in Greenland, Lakehurst New Jersey and a few others up and down the Atlantic to South America and the Azores. By 1944 the tide of the war of the Atlantic had turned against the German subs and the Wolf Pack raiders and Merchant shipping was moving at a good pace and with much fewer casualties than the previous 2 years. This refuelng operation was always very dangerous.