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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 - Navy Log
    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 - 2009 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 29 February 2008