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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
USS Nitro AE-2 AE-23 Association

AE-23 Nitro

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign: November - Golf - Mike - November
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation
Second Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Cuba. 6-Lebanon)
Third Row - Vietnam Service Medal (2) - Southwest Asia Service Medal - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Nitro Class Ammunition Ship:
  • Laid down, 20 March 1957, at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Inc, Sparrow Point, MD.
  • Launched, 25 June 1958
  • Commissioned, USS Nitro (AE-23), 1 May 1959
  • Decommissioned, 28 April 1995
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Portsmouth, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 14 August 1995
  • Turned over to Maritime Administration, 31 March 2000, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 9,050 t.(lt) 15,688 t.(fl)
    Length 512'
    Beam 72'
    Draft 27'
    Speed 19 kts.
    Complement 28 officers, 331 enlisted
    Armament four twin 3"/50 gun mounts
    Propulsion steam turbine, single shaft, 16,000shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Nitro 131k Nitro (AE-23) underway, date and place unknown. Stephen Essex
    Nitro 104k Nitro (AE-23) entering port at Curacao, August 1965. Barry Smith GMG3 USS Nitro
    Nitro 196k Nitro (AE-23) at right conducts an underway replenishment of ammunition with Forrestal (CV-59) while Altair (AKS-32) at left simultaneously conducts an underway replenishment of general stores.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine July 1965    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Nitro 69k Nitro (AE-23) at Naples, Italy, June 1976 © Richard Leonhardt
    Nitro 116k Nitro (AE-23) replenishing Intrepid (CV-11), circa 1960-62, location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan, MACM USN Ret
    Nitro 66k Nitro (AE-23) during a westbound UNREP in the Atlantic in early 1979. Photo taken from Canesto (AO-99) by Stephen P. Swierczek CDR, USNR Ret. USS Nitro DCA 1977-80 Bill Toohey ETC USN Ret. USS Nitro
    View the Nitro (AE-23)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center web site
    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
    Nitro Class Ammunition Ships of the United States Navy
    "AE" Sailors Association
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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 6 June 2006