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AO-37 Merrimack
HISTORY OF THE U. S. S. MERRIMACK (AO 37)
AO-37 USS Merrimack
Kennebec class Fleet Oiler
Displacement: 21,077 tons
Length: 502'
Beam: 58'
Draft: 31'
Speed: 17 knots (max) 13 knots (econ)
Armament: 1 5"/38 DP, 4 3"/50 DP, 4x2 40mm, 4x2 20mm
Complement: 243
Capacity: 134,000 barrels
Geared turbine engines, single screw, 12,000 hp
Maritime Commission T2(MC-SO) type
Built at Bethlehem, Sparrows Pt.
Commissioned 4 Feb 1942
Ex-SS Caddo
Fleet oilers are versatile ships and among the fleet oilers the U. S. S. MERRIMACK,
Auxiliary Oiler Number 37 has been a versatile ship. The "Mack" unfurled its commission
pennant on 4 February 1942 under the command of Captain William E. Hilbert, USN of
Washington, D. C. and completed conversion at Staten Island from the Esso tanker "Caddo"
on the fourteenth. A trial run to Norfolk revealed only minor troubles, which were
quickly overcome.
A few weeks later she arrived at Bermuda for her debut as a fleet oiler. The coming
out was a success and inaugurated a grand tour of the Atlantic Ocean, one that was to go
as far north as Argentia, Newfoundland, and Greenock, Scotland; south to Montevideo,
Uruguay and Freetown, Sierra Leone; east to Gibraltar and Casablanca; and west to
Trinidad and Rio de Janeiro with side trips into the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas.
The new ship and new crew had big pleasures and little troubles that seemed like
big ones. The equator was crossed for the first of eight times in May of that first
year, but was quickly forgotten for the open armed welcome in Bahia and Recife, the State
Department Fourth of July party, the cariocas friendliness in Rio and the thanks of a
fuel-hungry Montevideo. And finally at the end of July, the Post Office Department
discovered that the U. S. S. MERRIMACK was not the Army transport Merrimack (which
had been sunk) and the first mail was received at Trinidad. Two more trips were made to a
Brazil now at war with the Axis, a stop at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and finally Uncle
Sugar in late September. The ship had been away nearly five and a half months
which was a long time away from home in the Atlantic of the early war days.
Then came a period for installing special equipment.
When this was completed the ship was ready for the North African invasion with task group 34.10.2 and on that
morning unloaded two (2) aircraft rescue boats from her cargo deck in total darkness at
Safi, French Morocco, later anchoring there when the city had been secured. This trip
to Africa was the most spectacular of the crossings but was followed in the next year
and a half by five Casablanca and three Oran trips which were more important since each
trip brought four and a half million gallons of oil to support the North African and
Italian operations.
It was on one of the Casablanca trips, in June of 1943, that the Merrimack along
with the corvette PILOT participated in the rescue and transport of one hundred and
thirteen survivors of the French Naval Auxiliary Oiler LOT, which was torpedoed while
in the same convoy. For this service in line of duty to the French government the
French Navy bestowed a plaque on the MERRIMACK which reads (note: quoted in French
for accurate translation by expert):
Au U. S. S. MERRIMACK
La MARINE FRANCAISE
En souvenir de I'aide fraternelle apportee aux Officers et Marines du Ravitailleur
d'Escadre LOT torpille dans l'Atlantique le 22 Juin 1943 au cours d'une mission de guerre
effectuee en commun.
The plaque was presented in a ceremony at Norfolk by Vice-Admiral Alexander Sharp
with a letter of commendation from Vice-Admiral F. Michelier, Commander of the French
Maritime and Aero-nautical Forces which read in part:
"All the officers and men of the LOT are unanimous in praising the devotion of
the American crews during the life saving operations and the cordiality with which they
were received aboard these two ships. On board the PILOT the men threw themselves in
the water to help the tired survivors- on board the MERRIMACK the crew did everything
to give our men the maximum comfort and to make them forget in a thousand delicate ways,
the bad times they had just experienced, I wish to express my thanks for the conduct
of the PILOT and the MERRIMACK. I shall be pleased if you will congratulate these
ships and inform them of the gratitude of the sailors whom they succored."
On the return trip, a German submarine was sunk by a plane operating from the
convoy and three survivors were carried as prisoners aboard this ship. The German-speakers
of the crew now had their time at bat just as the French-speakers had theirs a few
weeks before. However, nothing of military value was gleaned from these conversations
except a boost in morale to the ship's crew to observe the humbled supermen.
On September 27, 1943 Commander Robert A, MacKerracher,, USN of San Francisco,
stepped up from executive officer to relieve Captain Hilbert as skipper. Three months
later, the Norfolk to Casablanca schedule was interrupted by a different type of Atlantic
crossing--this time to Greenock, Scotland. Carrying oil seemed to be only a side issue
on this trip. Any old-timer will tell the boot complaining of rough seas and foul
weather, "This is nothing; you should have been with us on the Scotland trip." Certainly
the fueling-at-sea was the roughest encountered before or since. New Year's Day was
celebrated by the loss of two booms, two 8 inch tow lines, and six lengths of hose.
Perhaps the rough weather was a little too much for the "Mack" for after returning
and making a short trip to Texas and one to Bermuda for fueling exercises she went
into the Norfolk Navy Yard for extensive overhaul and post-repair trials. After this
came the three trips to Oran which were to terminate this ship's service in the Atlantic
Fleet. On these trips there were no diversions such as those offered by the French
survivors and German prisoners, There was little to be seen that hadn't already been
noticed in Casablanca--mainly Arabs. The enemy was definitely active as evidenced by
air reconnaissance and the torpedoing and sinking of a destroyer escort on the first
trip. But general quarters came infrequently and the spring and summer weather
of the -mid-Atlantic and Mediterranean was enjoyed to the fullest. During these trips
and on the previous Casablanca runs the ship acted as convoy oiler which meant two days
out of seventeen spent fueling the escort ships. On one of these trips an Atlantic record was
established when thirteen destroyers and destroyer escorts were fueled in five hours and
under standard test conditions. This ship also held and broke twice the record for
fueling a single ship in the shortest time, On these trips, the "Mack" also acted as a
general catch-all for personnel and material. P-T boats, patrol craft, and airplanes
were ferried across the Atlantic; passengers and mail brought back. The medical
department could always count on receiving at least one patient from the merchant ships
in the convoy. This practice resulted in the only death recorded aboard the MERRIMACK.
A German prisoner being carried to the States for internment was transferred for a throat
operation but he was already too far gone for effective aid. His death the following day led
to a military burial at sea of an unmourned stranger.
On 24 September 1944, Captain MacKerracher was relieved by Captain Vaughn Bailey,
USN (Retired) of 1215 29th St. N. W. Washington, D. C. while the ship was in its final
yard period at Norfolk. The Pacific camouflage had been applied, additional guns had been
installed, all other essential repairs had been made, and last good-byes had been said, for this
time it was felt ;the ship was going into the thick of the war.
October 14 saw the last of the States for nearly fifteen months. The ship proceeded
through the West Indies to Aruba for a load of oil, then two diversionary days in Panama which
were unanimously popular, and the first trip through the Canal for most of the crew. Two more
weeks and Pearl Harbor afforded the last sight of civilization for nearly a year. While at Pearl
the ship was called on to fuel a hunter-killer group searching for a Japanese submarine between
Hawaii and California in order that the group might stay at the task and get the submarine. During
this operation, the "Mack" completed her four hundredth ,fueling-at-sea. The return to Pearl Harbor
brought last minute stores and information and then the trip into the unknown. Eniwetok showed
the crew the devastation of an actual battlefield, but Ulithi, reached on December 1, was a new and
untouched (except by human hands) base, which was to be "home-port" for the next nine months.
A new phase of fueling was now begun. Formerly-the majority of fuelings had been
to convoy escort vessels. Now the ship was part of fuel task groups which sailed to designated
areas and cruised around waiting for the one or two big days of a fortnight when the task forces of
the third or fifth fleets would replenish their oil reserves--the one item which could not be loaded
at a base to meet all cruising needs of a month or more. During this period, the MERRIMACK
fueled nearly every type of seagoing ship the Navy has and even tried a couple of British ships for
size. While operations were quite likely to carry close to enemy-threatened areas, the ship was never
fired a shot in anger and while action has been imminent on several occasions, there has always
been the satisfying feeling of having ample support for any scrap.>
Because of its proximity to the battle areas and close support of ships operating in the battle
areas, the Pacific crew of the "Mack" is entitled to wear five battle stars on their area ribbons -
for operations during the invasions of Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa and during the
great air and sea attacks on Japan just prior to her surrender. The men have also earned the
Philippine Liberation Medal for support in the Leyte invasion and occupation. In addition
Captain Bailey, the senior tanker captain of the fleet, has been awarded a Navy Unit
Commendation for his work as commanding officer of the MERRIMACK during its Pacific
service when he was frequently head of a task unit as well.
The monotony of long days of cruising at sea was scarcely broken by the days spent at
the Ulithi anchorage which to most of the crew was completely barren of any attraction.
The occasional let-up in the work of war was provided by the fueling days and by the hours
spent near land of appreciable size--Leyte and Okinawa. Whenever the MERRIMACK left
Ulithi for rendezvous with the fleet it usually acted as a clearing-house for business
to be done. She carried mail, passengers, fleet replacements, cargo, freight, and
provisions--anything or body that needed a lift. Her cargo deck has held everything from
plane spares to milk-wagons and she was the first ship to participate in a transfer of airplane
motors, propellers, and wings at sea--and, she hopes, the last.
After a month in Tokyo Bay, the ship put to sea for the last fueling-at-sea operation.
Later duty was assigned in Nagoya and then Kure where she passed through one of war's ironies
by fueling Japanese destroyers and escort vessels which were now operating in their country's
repatriation service. The crew also had a chance to go on a sightless sight-seeing tour of
Hiroshima and adjacent areas.
The good news came in December when the "Mack" was given orders to return home for
Navy Yard overhaul and alteration at Terminal Island. After fueling over 800 ships, 629 of them
at sea (seldom attempted before the war), the MERRIMACK will abandon its role as a fleet oiler
with its multitude of extra services and start the long Pacific haul in the Navy Transport Services.
MERRIMACK was decommissioned 8 February 1950, and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Orange, Texas. When Communist Forces invaded South Korea, MERRIMACK recommissioned 6 December 1950.
Assigned to MSTS, the Fleet oiler served the Atlantic Fleet, making periodic deployments to the Mediterranean until decommissioned 20 December 1954, and placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego. She was struck from the Navy List 4 February 1959, transferred to the Maritime Administration, and placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Beaumont, Texas.
MERRIMACK received eight battle stars for World War II service.
This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
© 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
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