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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

USS Sylvania (AFS-2)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - MIke - Yankee - Uniform
NMYU
Voice Call Sign -Debark-Tango (1971-73)
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (2)
Second Row - Navy "E" Ribbon (2) - Navy Expeditionary Medal (4-Lebanon) - National Defense Service Medal (2)
Third Row - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Lebanon) - Southwest Asia Service Medal - Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)
Mars Class Combat Stores Ship:
  • Laid down, 18 August 1962, at National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, CA.
  • Launched, 15 August 1963
  • Commissioned, USS Sylvania (AFS-2), 11 July 1964, CAPT. Bernard A. Lienhard USN, in command
  • Decommissioned, 26 May 1994
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 5 January 1995
  • Title transferred to the Maritime Administration
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS), 28 July 2001
    Specifications:
    Displacement 9,200 t.(lt) 17,500 t.(fl)
    Length 581'
    Beam 79'
    Draft 27' (max.)
    Speed 20 kts.
    Complement
    (USS) 486
    (MSC) 49 Navy, 125 civilian merchant seamen
    Aircraft two UH-46 Sea Knight helicopters
    Armament
    two twin 3"/50 DP gun mounts
    two Close In Weapons Systems
    four .50 cal. machine guns
    Propulsion three 580 psi Babcock and Wilcox boilers, one De Laval Turbine, single propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Sylvania 103k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) underway, circa spring 1964, probably during builders trials prior to commissioning.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, November 1968.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Springfield 278k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) delivering stores while underway alongside USS Springfield (CLG-7) in the Mediterranean Sea, circa 1965. William C. Swisher
    Aldebaran 89k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) and USS Aldebaran (AF-10) conducting underway replenishment exercises at Guantanemo Bay, Cuba, 25 September 1964, their shakedown cruises.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, January 1965.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Sylvania 647k Series of four photos depicting USS Sylvania (AFS-2) during an underway replenishment operation with USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42 and USS Charles W. Ware (DD-865) in the Mediterranean Sea, in 1965 William C. Swisher USN CTR3 USS Springfield1962-66
    Sylvania 467k
    Sylvania 452k
    Sylvania 794k
    Sylvania 114k USSSylvania (AFS-2) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, April 1970.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Sylvania 141k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) in a Mediterranean moor, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, August 1971.    		 Stanley C. Svec
    Sylvania 73k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) underway in the Mediterranean Sea, May 1976. © Richard Leonhardt
    Sylvania 85k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) underway in the Mediterranean Sea, August 1976 © Richard Leonhardt
    Sylvania 56k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) in port, Halifax, Nova Scotia, date unknown. Photo by Peter Wilson
    Sylvania 85k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) in port. Barcelona, Spain, 1 March 1977. Note, as of the date of this photo, Sylvania still retained her original four twin 3"/50 gun mounts, with Mk.56 directors, while her SPS-40 air search radar had been removed. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    Sylvania 72k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) in port. Barcelona, Spain, 11 March 1977. USS Rigel (T-AF 58) is alongside, her masts and superstructure (note the MSC crest on her funnel) are partly visible. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    Sylvania 92k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) underway, date and location unknown. Richard Leonhardt
    Sylvania 128k (from right to left) USS Sylvania (AFS-2), USS Concord (AFS-5) and USS San Diego (AFS-6) underway, date and location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Sylvania 85k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) preparing to get underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, October 1986.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Sylvania 71k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, October 1986.    		 Tom Langford
    Sylvania 67k USS Sylvania (AFS-2) underway during a VERTREP, date and location unknown. Robert Hurst
    View the USS Sylvania (AFS-2)
    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
    USS Sylvania
    Navy Fact File - Combat Stores Ships - T-AFS
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Combat Stores Ship (AFS) Photo Index
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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 22 February 2008