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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Pyro (AE-24)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Echo - November - Hotel
NENH

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Secretary of the Navy Letter of Commendation
Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation (2) - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (2) - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (2)
Second Row - National Defense Service Medal (2) - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (6-Vietnam, 8-Persian Gulf) - Vietnam Service Medal (8)
Third Row - Southwest Asia Service Medal - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal - Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)

Nitro Class Ammunition Ship:

Laid down, 21 October 1957, at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Inc., Sparrows Point, MD.

Launched, 5 November 1958

Commissioned, USS Pyro (AE-24), 24 July 1959, at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA., CAPT. Robert A. Patton in command

During the Vietnam War USS Pyro participated in the following campaigns:

**Vietnam War Campaigns**
Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
Vietnamese Counteroffensive 4 an 10 to 15 July 1965 27 July to 7 August 1965 17 to 27 August 1965 5 to 14 and 23 to 30 September 1965 24 March to 4 April 1966 18 to 27 April 1966 5 to 12 and 18 to 19 May 1966 3 to 13 and 25 to 30 June 1966	Sanctuary Counteroffensive 1 to 2 and 11 to 16 May 1970
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II 1 to 8 July 1966 27 July to 11 August 1966 26 August to 7 September 1966	Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VII 11 to 22 December 1970 3 January to 17 March 1971 1 to 18 February 1971 15 to 21 March 1971 29 March to 8 April 1971 12 to 14 April 1971 23 April to 1 May 1971
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase III 11 to 25 July 1967 7 to 22 August 1967 8 to 26 September 1967 5 to 24 October 1967 5 to 18 November 1967	Consolidation II 4 to 15 February 1972 26 February to 6 March 1972 21 to 27 March 1972
Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970 4 to 17 November 1969 25 November to 17 December 1969 2 to 17 January 1970 24 January to 14 February 1970 10 to 29 March 1970 5 to 6 and 14 to 30 April 1970	Ceasefire Campaign 2 to 11 and 16 to 24 April 1972 2 to 19 May 1972 26 May to 12 June 1972 22 June to 7 July 1972 28 July to 14 August 1972 23 to 31 August 1972 16 to 30 September 1972 7 to 17 and 29 to 31 October 1972

Decommissioned, 31 May 1994

Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, WA.

Struck from the Naval Register, 8 April 1997

Transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for disposal

Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA., 17 August 2000

Title transfer to MARAD, 24 February 2001

Moved to Mare Island, 25 January 2012, for cleaning prior to being towed to New Orleans for dismantling

Final Disposition, taken in tow, 10 February 2012, by the tugs Marine Retriever and Marshall Foss to be towed to Southern Recycling, New Orleans, LA. via the Panama Canal

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

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
57k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** exiting San Francisco Bay, date unknown.	USS Pyro (AE-24) web site
53k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** underway, date and location unknown. ©Marine Photos, San Diego, CA.	Mike Smolinski
99k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** steaming alongside an unidentified aircraft carrier, date and location unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine April 1966.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
69k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24) during underway replenishment with USS Enterprise (CVN-65)**, circa 1970s, location unknown.	Photo by Dr. Kenneth Hartman
66k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24) during underway replenishment with USS Enterprise (CVN-65)**, circa 1970s, location unknown.	Photo by Dr. Kenneth Hartman
84k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** underway, circa 1970s, location unknown.	Photo by Dr. Kenneth Hartman
115k	*USS Southerland* (DD-743) going to the aid of USS Pyro (AE-24) after Pyro went dead in the water during an unrep with USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)** off San Diego, circa late-1978-early-1979.	Richard Stiles
115k		Richard Stiles
215k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24) highlines two pallets of five-inch gun powder canisters to USS Turner Joy (DD-951), during Vietnam War underway replenishment operations in the South China Sea, March 1970. Photographed from on board Turner Joy*. US Navy photo #: K-83111.*	Robert Hurst
63k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** underway while enroute to Kodiak Island, AK., date unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine January 1983.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
171k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** underway while enroute to Kodiak Island, AK., date unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine January 1983.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
62k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** at Kodiak Island, AK., date unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine January 1983.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
79k	*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** underway, date and place unknown. US Navy photo.	Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr
64k	Series of photos showing ex-*USS Pyro* (AE-24)** passing under the Golden Gate Bridge at 11:45AM, 10 February 2012, on her final voyage from San Francisco Bay to Southern Recycling at New Orleans.	Photos by Mike McCullough
60k
58k
75k
124k
126k
139k
147k
146k

For more photos and information about USS Pyro, see:
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

USS Pyro AE-1 / AE-24
Nitro Class Ammunition Ships of the United States Navy
AE/AOE Sailors Association
Commanding Officers

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 13 July 2012