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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
USS Rigel Patch Contributed by Jim McCoy / USNS Patch Contributed by Mike Smolinski

USNS Rigel (T-AF-58)
ex
 USS Rigel (AF-58) (1955 - 1975)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Quebec - Sierra - India
 NQSI
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation (Op. Provide Comfort 1991) - Navy Expeditionary Medal (1-Iran/Indian Ocean 1978-79, 6-Iran/Indian Ocean 1979-81), 5-Lebanon, 1-Libya
Bottom Row - National Defense Service Medal (3)- Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (7-Lebanon) - Southwest Asia Service Medal
Rigel Class Stores Ship:
  • Laid down, 15 March 1954, as a Maritime Administration type (R3-S-4A) hull, under Maritime Administration contract (MA hull 36), at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
  • Launched, 15 March 1955
  • Commissioned USS Rigel (AF-58), 2 September 1955, CAPT. W. T. Griffin in command
  • Decommissioned in June 1975
  • Placed in service by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS Rigel (T-AF-58), 23 June 1975
  • Placed out of service, date unknown
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 16 May 1994
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet
  • Custody transferred to the Maritime Administration, 1 April 1998, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Sold for scrapping in late 2003 at Able UK, Teeside, England, delivered but never scrapped because of environmental concerns
  • Final Disposition, resold for scrapping to All Star Metals, Brownsville, TX. for $469,626, announced by MARAD 16 July 2008
    Specifications:
    Displacement 15,150 t(fl)
    Length 502'
    Beam 72'
    Draft 29'
    Speed 21 kts.
    USS Complement 350
    Armament four dual mount 3"/50 gun mounts
    Propulsion 600psi cross compound steam turbine, single propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Rigel (AF-58)
    Rigel 108k USS Rigel (AF-58), at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA., 15 May 1955 Photo by Larry Bohn
    Rigel 85k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway in the Mediterranean Sea, date unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1959.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Rigel 910k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway alongside USS Harwood (DD-861), date and location unknown, Official U.S. Navy photograph taken from an unidentified Essex class CVA. William R. Long Jr. USS Rigel May 1969 - November 1970
    Rigel
    AR-14-472(L) 6-60    		 928k USS Rigel (AF-58) during an underway replenishment with USS Cadmus (AR-14), circa 3 June 1960, location unknown.
    Official U.S. Navy Photographs - USS Cadmus [AR-14-472(L) 6-60] and USS Cadmus [AR-14-473(L) 6-60]    		 William R. Long Jr., USS Rigel
    Rigel
    AR-14-473(L) 6-60    		 929k
    Rigel 82k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway with a new Helicopter Extended Area Platform (HEAP) designed to speed replenishment.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, December 1961.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Rigel 96k USS Rigel (AF-58), pier side, NOB, Norfolk, VA., August 1964 © Richard Leonhardt
    Rigel 86k USS Rigel (AF-58), pier side, NOB, Norfolk, VA., August 1964. Waldron (DD-699) is in the background. © Richard Leonhardt
    Rigel 82k USS Rigel (AF-58) pier side at Kingston, Jamaica, probably 26 - 27 February 1971 with USS Koelsch (DE-1049), outboard to port. © Richard Leonhardt
    Rigel 94k USS Franklin D.Roosevelt CVA-42) approaches USS Rigel (AF-58) while underway in the Mediterranean Sea in the spring of 1970 to begin a Replenishment at Sea (RAS). Photo by Eugene Williams USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
    Rigel 55k USS Rigel (AF-58),Mediterranean Sea, circa 1970-71 Photo by Steve Gottlief
    Contributed by Jim McCoy
    Rigel 63k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Jim McCoy USS Rigel
    USNS Rigel (T-AF-58)
    Rigel 136k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58), date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from MSC "Sealift Magazine"    		 Bill Valashinas
    Rigel 2059k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) at anchor at Genoa, Italy, 16 July 1977. Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Rigel 781k USS Rigel (AF-58) conducting an UNREP with USS Reeves (CG-24), with a Soviet Mod Kashin class destroyer keeping watch. Pacific Ocean, 15 March 1980. Photo taken from USS Nimitz (CVN-68).
    US Navy Photographic Center photo # 1177954 by PH2 Jim Brown, USN.    		 DCC(SS/SW) David Johnston, USN
    Sirius 92k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) and USNS Sirius (T-AFS-8) underway in the Mediterranean, circa 1981.
    US Navy photo    		 T.J. Tropea RM1 USN Ret. USNS Sirius
    Rigel 136k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) moored at Naval Station Subic Bay, P.I. in 1981. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Rigel 36k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58), at Barcelona, Spain, 6 June 1982. Rigel was the first of two built-for-the-purpose, fully refrigerated stores ships. Note helicopter platform aft, armament removed, MSC crest and blue and gold bands on stack. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    Rigel 2206k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) underway at Genoa, Italy, 25 April 1986. Photo by Carlo Martinelli

    For more photos and information about USS Rigel, see;
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
  • Commanding Officers
  • Memorabilia
    • 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
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 5 August 2011