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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Don McGrogan, BMCS USN Ret.

USS Nitro (AE-2)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Echo - Lima - Lima
NELL
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - China Service Medal - American Defense Service Medal - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Europe-African-Middle East Campaign Medal (1) - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Pyro Class Ammunition Ship:
  • Laid down, 19 March 1919, at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, WA.
  • Launched, 16 December 1919
  • Commissioned USS Nitro (AE-2), 1 April 1921, CDR. R. W. Vincent in command
  • Decommissioned, 30 November 1945, at Norfolk, VA.
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet
  • Struck from the Naval Register (date unknown)
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal, 30 March 1948
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 19 September 1949, to Welding Shipyards, Inc., New York
  • USS Nitro received one battle star for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 7,025 t.(lt) 10,600 t.(fl)
    Length 482' 9"
    Beam 60' 11"
    Draft 20' 11"
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement 226
    Armament
    four single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts
    two single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    Propulsion type unknown
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Nitro 52k USS Nitro (AE-2) moored pierside, date and location unknown.
    Photo from "U.S.Warships of World War One" with permission from the author Paul H. Silverstone.    		 Robert Hurst
    Nitro 90k USS Nitro (AE-2) at Naval Ammunition Depot Balboa, Canal Zone, 1 January 1938.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-466183, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
    Nitro 37k USS Nitro (AE-2) after departing Norfolk, VA., 20 April 1944, while enroute to Belfast, Northern Ireland.
    US Navy photo.    		 Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Nitro 75k USS Nitro (AE-2) underway, 17 December 1943, location unknown. .
    View the USS Nitro (AE-2)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    USS Nitro AE-2 AE-23 Association
    "AE" Sailors Association
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Ammunition Ship (AE) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 29 February 2008