Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

AO-106 Navasota

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Hotel - Oscar - Papa
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (2) - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon - American Campaign Medal
Second Row - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Expeditionary Medal (6-Iran/Indian Ocean, 1-Libya, 2 Persian Gulf) - National Defense Service Medal (2)
Third Row - Korean Service Medal (9) - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (3-Taiwan Straits, 6-Korea) - Vietnam Service Medal (14)
Fourth Row - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)
Cimmeron Class Fleet Oiler:
  • Laid down (date unknown) as a Maritime Commission type (T3-S2-A3) tanker hull, under Maritime Commission contract, (MC hull 2702), at Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock, Chester, PA.
  • Launched, 30 August 1945
  • Commissioned USS Navasota (AO-106), 27 February 1946, CDR. David H. McCluskey, USNR, in command
  • During the Korean War Navasota (AO-106) participated in the following campaigns:
    Korean War Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    North Korean Aggression
    18 to 29 September 1950     		Second Korean Winter
    24 to 30 April 1952
    Inchon Landing
    15 to 17 September 1950     		Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952
    1 to 9 and 15 to 29 May 1952
    12 to 26 June 1952
    7 to 16 July 1952
    9 to 20 September 1952
    29 September to 12 October 1952
    First UN Counter Offensive
    4 to 6 and 12 to 21 April 1951     		Third Korean Winter
    10 to 18 March 1953
    1 to 9 and 25 to 30 April 1953
    Communist China Spring Offensive
    25 April to 2 May 1951
    6 to 10 May 1951
    22 May to 6 June 1951
    13 to 19 June 1951     		Korea, Summer-Fall 1953
    1 to 2 and 17 to 26 May 1953
    25 to 27 July 1953
    UN Summer-Fall Offensive
    3 to 12 August 1951
    28 August to 5 September 1951
    16 to 25 September 1951     		.

  • Jumboized, October 1963 to December 1964 at Puget Sound Bridge and Drydock Co., Plant No. 2, Harbor Island, Seattle, WA.
  • During the Vietnam War Navasota (AO-106) participated in the following campaigns:
    Vietnam War Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Vietnam Defense
    15 to 24 September 1965
    4, 6, 9 and 16 to 27 October 1965
    9 to 18 November1965
    30 November to 8 December 1965
    17 to 24 December 1965     		Tet 69/Counteroffensive
    7 to 25 April 1969
    6 to 17 May 1969
    26 May to 8 June 1969
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive
    25 December 1965
    6 to 13 January 1966
    26 January to 6 February1966
    13 to 22 February 1966
    7 to 22 March 1966
    30 March to 5 April 1966
    11 to 15 April 1966     		Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969
    9 to 10 June 1969
    27 June to 11 July 1969
    27 to 29 July 1969
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II
    30 November to 9 December 1966
    30 December 1966 to 5 January 1967
    10 to 20 February 1967
    27 February to 9 March 1967
    7 to 13 and 19 to 26 April 1967
    10 to 18 May1967     		Sanctuary Counteroffensive
    10 to 20 and 27 to 30 June 1970
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase III
    20 December to 29 January 1967     		Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VII
    1 to 14 July 1970
    29 July to 6 August 1970
    19 August to 5 September 1970
    11 to 12 and 19 to 27 September 1970
    6 to 14 October 1970
    24 October to 2 November 1970
    8 to 12 November 1970
    Tet Counteroffensive
    30 to 31 January 1968
    24 March to 1 April 1968     		Consolidation I
    20 to 28 September 1971
    15 to 17 October 1971
    23 October to 5 November 1971
    11 to 29 November 1971
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV
    10 to 22 April 1968
    8 to 17 May 1968
    23 May to 1 June 1968
    10 to 30 June 1968     		Consolidation II
    17 December 1971 to 1 January 1972
    9 to 17 and 26 to 30 January 1972
    6 to 11 and 16 to 22 February 1972
    1 to 29 March 1972
    Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V
    1 to 6 and 10 July 1968     		Vietnam Ceasefire
    30 March to 8 April 1972
    13 to 19 and 26 to 28 April 1972
    4 to 16 May 1972
    28 May to 2 June 1972

  • Decommissioned, 13 August 1975
  • Placed in service with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS Navasota (T-AO-106)
  • Placed out of service in 1991
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 2 January 1992
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS), 25 October 1995
  • Navasota earned nine battle stars for Korean War service and fourteen campaign stars for Vietnam War service
    Specifications:
    Displacement
    As Build 7,236 t.(lt) 25,440 t.(fl)
    Jumboized 12,840 t.(lt) 33,987 t.(fl)
    Length
    As Built 553'
    Jumboized 644"
    Beam 75'
    Draft
    As Built 32'
    Jumboized 34' 9"
    Speed 18 kts.
    Complement 314
    Armament
    one single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount
    four single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    four twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    four twin 20mm AA gun mounts
    Cargo Capacity 146,000 barrels
    Propulsion geared turbines, twin screws, 30,400hp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Navasota (AO-106)
    Navasota 111k Navasota (AO-106) refueling Electra (AKA-4) off her starboard side and Philippine Sea (CVA-47) off her port side, off San Diego in 1954. Photo by Donald Ravey USS Electra
    Navasota 142k Navasota (AO-106) refueling Electra (AKA-4) off her starboard side and Philippine Sea (CVA-47) off her port side, off San Diego in 1954. Photo by Donald Ravey USS Electra
    Navasota 66k Navasota (AO-106) pulling away after refueling Electra (AKA-4) and Philippine Sea (CVA-47) off San Diego in 1954. Photo by Donald Ravey USS Electra
    Navasota 28k Navasota (AO-106) refueling Basilone (DD-824) and Ticonderoga (CVA-14) off Vietnam, circa May 1966. Note the last deployment of CVW-5, tail code "NF", aboard Ticonderoga was in May 1966. US Navy photo. .
    Navasota 104k Navasota (AO-106) underway, date and place unknown. CDR. Louis D Chirillo USN Ret
    Navasota 46k Navasota (AO-106) at Puget Sound Bridge and Dry Dock Co., Seattle, WA. undergoing Jumboization.
    The following newspaper article is from the 10 January 1964 issue of The Seattle Times:
    90-ton Deckhouse Moved
    by Wayne Jacobi, Times Staff Reporter

    Bremerton, Jan. 10 --- The Puget Sound Bridge & Dry Dock Co. yesterday completed the second stage of its chunk-style conversion of the Navy oiler Navasota---with an assist from the Bremerton Naval Shipyard. The Bremerton yard's 250-ton swing crane lifted the 190-ton deckhouse from the old hull of the Navasota, swung 1t 230 feet across a pier and set it own on the new hull. The new hull, consisting of the bow of the old Navasota and a Japanese-built midbody plus the old hull were then taken back to Seattle, where the stern section of the old hull will be cut free from the old midsection and welded to the new hull. Despite high winds and slashing rain, the Navy Yard crew brought off the heavy lift without a hitch. The Navasota is the first of two such fleet oilers being "jumboized" by the Puget Sound Bridge & Dry Dock Co. The other is the Waccamaw. Both conversions are to be completed by June.The new mid-sections will increase the cargo-carrying capacities of the ships about 50 percent.     		James Furst Jr. IC2
    Navasota 49k Navasota (AO-106) moored, pierside with Hamner (DD-718) at Sasebo, Japan in 1969. Photo by LT. William P. Jones MD USNR USS Niagara (AFS-3)
    Navasota 78k Navasota (AO-106) underway off Subic Bay, Philippines, 1969. James Furst Jr.
    Navasota 85k Navasota (AO-106) refueling Duncan (DD-874) to starboard and America (CVA-66) to port while underway in the South China Sea in 1970. Photo taken from Bausell (DD-845). Photo by Lee Noland STGC USN Ret. USS Bausell
    Navasota 107k Navasota (AO-106) refueling America (CVA-66) in the South China Sea during 1970. Photo taken from Bausell (DD-845). Photo by Lee Noland STGC USN Ret. USS Bausell
    USNS Navasota (T-AO-106)
    Navasota 70k Navasota (T-AO-106) underway during a Replenishment at Sea of Midway (CV-41) and England (CG-22) . Photo was taken in late 1983. (Note - Midway has SPS-48 and SPS-49 radars, but no SPS-43A and F-4 Phantoms on deck, the last F-4s deployed aboard Midway in January-March 1986.). US Navy photo. Photo by James Furst Jr. IC2 USN
    CV-66 America 70k Aerial view of Navasota (T-AO-106) and America (CV-66) during an underway replenishment operation in the Indian Ocean, June 1981.
    US Navy photo DNSC8507724 by PH2 Collins USN.    		 Defense Visual Information Center
    View the Navasota (AO-106)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    No Information Available
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Fleet Oiler (AO) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 18 May 2007