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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7)
ex
USS San Jose (AFS-7) (1970 - 1993)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - India - Bravo - Victor
NIBV
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation Second Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - Navy Expeditionary Medal - National Defense Service Medal
Third Row - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (2) - Vietnam Service Medal (3) - Southwest Asia Service Medal
Fourth Row - Global War on Terrorism Service Medal - Humanitarian Service Medal - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal


Mars Class Combat Stores Ship:
  • Laid down, 8 March 1969, at National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, CA.
  • Launched, 13 December 1969
  • Commissioned, USS San Jose (AFS-7), 23 October 1970, CAPT. James H. Morris USN, in command
  • During the Vietnam War USS San Jose participated in the following campaigns:

    Vietnam War Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Consolidation I
    21 October 1971
    28 October to 5 November 1971
    9 to 27 November 1971
    Vietnam Ceasefire
    16 to 29 September 1972
    10 to 21 October 1972
    3 to 17 November 1972
    1 to 14 December 1972
    27 December 1972 to 9 January 1973
    26 January to 3 February 1973
    3 to 15 and 21 to 23 March 1973
    Consolidation II
    4 to 9 and 20 to 29 December 1971
    14 to 24-January 1972
    9 to 18 and 23 to 25 February 1972
     

  • Decommissioned and placed in service by MSC, 2 November 1993 as USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7)
  • USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) is assigned to the Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force (PM1), MSC Far East
  • Deactived and struck from the Naval Register, 27 January 2010
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 1 October 2013, for $995,928, to All Star Metals, Brownsville, TX.
  • USS San Jose received three battle stars for Vietnam service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 9,200 t.(lt) 15,900-18,663 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
    USN (As Built) four twin 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    USNS unarmed
    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
    USS San Jose (AFS-7)
    San Jose 62k USS San Jose (AFS-7) underway, date and location unknown. Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
    San Jose 82k USS San Jose (AFS-7) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "NAVSEA Journal."
    Bob Bush
    Niagara Falls 315k USS San Jose (AFS-7) and USS Niagara Falls (AFS-3) transfer cargo during their 1971 WESTPAC deployments.
    US Navy photo.
    Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    San Jose 1766k USS San Jose (AFS-7) underway off the coast of San Diego, CA., 28 April 1971.
    DoDMedia VIRIN: DN-SC-86-00179, a US Navy photo by PH1 Lucas
    Robert Hurst
    San Jose
    09520762
    229k USS San Jose (AFS-7) underway off the coast of San Diego, CA., date unknown.
    ©George Barber
    Nicholas Tiberio
    San Jose
    09520763
    232k USS San Jose (AFS-7) passing under the Golden Gate Bridge while outbound to sea from San Francisco Bay, date unknown. Nicholas Tiberio
    San Jose 176k USS San Jose (AFS-7) under way near Vancouver BC, 20 July 1971.
    City of Vancouver Archives, Photo No. AM1506-S3-3-: CVA 447-7940 by Walter E. Frost.
    Mike Green
    San Jose 1161k Sailors man the rails as USS San Jose (AFS-7) departs NAS Alameda, CA., having been assisted from the pier by Accomac (YTB 812), 10 August 1981. San Jose was deploying to her new home port in Guam.
    Defense Imagery photo # DN-SC-84-05046 NAS ALAMEDA (10 August 1981 a US Navy photo by PH1 Thomas Berault now in the collections of the Defense Imagery web site.
    Robert M. Cieri
    San Jose 156k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored to a buoy in Hong Kong Harbor, June 1989. Photo by William P. Jones, MD
    San Jose 72k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored to a buoy in Hong Kong Harbor, June 1989. Photo by William P. Jones, MD
    San Jose 86k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored to a buoy in Hong Kong harbor, June 1989. Photo by William P. Jones, MD
    San Jose 76k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored pierside at Hong Kong. December 1989 with HMAS Stuart (DE-48). William Chiu
    San Jose 84k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored pierside at Hong Kong, December 1989. William Chiu
    San Jose 73k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored pierside at Hong Kong, December 1989. William Chiu
    San Jose 51k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored pierside at Hong Kong, December 1989. William Chiu
    San Jose 68k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored pierside at Hong Kong, December 1989. William Chiu
    San Jose 49k USS San Jose (AFS-7) moored to a buoy in Hong Kong Harbor, 16 April 1991. William Chiu
    San Jose 114k USS Sacramento (AOE-1) coming alongside USS San Jose (AFS-7) to begin an UNREP off the coast of Washington in 1994. Photos by Douglas Brown USS Sacramento
    San Jose 142k
    San Jose 53k USS San Jose (AFS-7) under way in the harbor at San Diego, CA., date unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    San Jose 96k USS San Jose (AFS-7) under way date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    San Jose 82k USS San Jose (AFS-7) under way,date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    San Jose
    09520761
    47k Guard Mail postage stamp featuring USS San Jose (AFS-7) Guard Mail was local mail on Guam instituted in the 1930s. Guard Mail was necessary since the US Post Office at Guam did not deliver to individual addresses. Tommy Trampp
    San Jose 32k Cover for USS San Jose (AFS-7) Welcome Aboard pamphlet, date unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7)
    San Jose 116k USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    MSC web site
    San Jose 89k USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) departing Sydney Harbor, Australia, April 2001.
    Photo by Ian Edwards.
    USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) web site
    San Jose 99k USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) pulls alongside USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) to begin an underway replenishment.
    US Navy photo # 030206-N-5821P-007 by PHAN Jason T. Poplin, 6 February 2003.
    Navy Newsstand
    San Jose 87k An MH-60 Knight Hawk assigned to HC-5 assists with an underway replenishment between USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7) and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).
    US Navy photo # 030124-N-8794V-006 by PH3 Kittie VandenBosch, 24 January 2002. Navy Newsstand
    Bernard A. Cardali USS LST-306
    Swift 47k USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7), background, and USS Swift (HSV-2), foreground, operating with USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), center, in the Indian Ocean, 25 February 2005. Mercy is serving as an enabling platform to assist humanitarian operations ashore in ways that host nations and international relief organization find useful. USNS Mercy is off the waters of Indonesia in support of Operation Unified Assistance, the humanitarian relief effort to aid the victims of the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia.
    US Navy photo # 050225-N-8629M-115 by PH3 Rebecca J. Moat.
    Lee Wahler
    Mercy 71k USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7), far left, and the High Speed Vessel USS Swift (HSV-2), far right, operating alongside USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) as she receives fuel from USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO 199) in the Indian Ocean, 3 March 2005. USNS Mercy is serving as an enabling platform to assist humanitarian operations ashore in ways that host nations and international relief organization find useful. USNS Mercy is in the waters off the Indonesian coast in support of Operation Unified Assistance, the humanitarian relief effort to aid the victims of the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia.
    US Navy photo # 050303-N-8796S-075 by PH2 Timothy Smith. Photo from the Navy NewsStand web site.
    Jack Treutle
    Mercy 41k USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7) sails in the Western Pacific during a vertical replenishment (VERTREP) with USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63).
    US Navy photo # 060709-N-3438B-167 by MC3 Jared Benner. Photo from the Navy NewsStand web site.
    Lee Wahler
    Mercy 272k An S-330 Puma helicopters hover above USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) during a supply transfer with the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) in the South China Sea, 3 September 2007.
    US Navy photo # 070903-N-9864S-003 SOUTH CHINA SEA (Sept. 3, 2007) by MC2 Joseph R. Schmitt.
    Lee Wahler
    Mercy 1251k USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) prepares to come alongside the amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52), not shown, for a connected replenishment (CONREP), 10 September 2008. Pearl Harbor is part of the Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group and is deployed supporting maritime security operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility..
    US Navy photo # 080910-N-5148B-016 PERSIAN GULF (Sept. 10, 2008) by MC3 Sarah E. Bitter.
    Douglas Brown
    San Jose 94k USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) moored pierside at Naval Base Guam, 2010. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    San Jose 1041k USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) prepares to come alongside the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) during a replenishment-at-sea. John C. Stennis is on a scheduled six-month deployment to the western Pacific Ocean.
    US Navy photo # 090223-N-6597H-053 PACIFIC OCEAN (Feb. 23, 2009) by MC3 Jon Husman.
    Lee Wahler
    San Jose 171k Ex-USNS San Jose (T-AFS-7) being towed out of Pearl Harbor, 6 December 2012, by tug Roughneck enroute to Brownsville, TX. for scrapping. Photos by CAPT. Wade Armstrong, Pearl Harbor Pilot, Honolulu, Hawaii
    Mercy 147k
    San Jose
    09520760
    137k Mk33, 3"/50 caliber Twin Naval Guns from USS San Jose (AFS-7) located in front of the Association of Vietnam Veterans of America Headquarters in the village of Mangilao, Guam. Yhu Chu


    For more photos and information about USS / USNS San Jose, see;
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
  • Miscellaneous Photo Collections

  • Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Morris, James Haines, USN :RADM23 October 1970 - 14 July 1972
    02CAPT. Smith Jr., Carol Castleman :VADM, USN (USNA 1952)14 July 1972 - 25 September 1973
    03CAPT. Frick, Joseph Francis, USN (USNA 1953) :RADM25 September 1973 - 7 May 1975
    04CAPT. Austin, James Willis, USN (USNA 1954) :RADM (Biogarphy)7 May 1975 - 13 July 1976
    05CAPT. Arthur, Stanley Roger, USN :ADM 13 July 1976 - December 1977
    06CAPT. Perry, Leonard Gaylord, USN :RADMDecember 1977 - September1979
    07CAPT. Johnson, Jerome Lamarr (Jerry), USN :RADMSeptember 1979 - February 1981
    08CAPT. Bull, Lyle Franklin, USN :RADMFebruary 1981 - August 1982
    09CAPT. Munsinger, Melvin David, USN3 August 1982 - 19 May 1984
    10CAPT. Geist, Gary Quay, USN (USNA 1959)19 May 1984 - 27 June 1986
    11CAPT. Wolf, Rexford Elwood, USN27 June 1986 - July 1987
    12CAPT. Pivonka, Leo Michael, USNJuly 1987 - 10 October 1987
    13CAPT. Haley, Willard James, USN10 October 1987 - 17 June 1989
    14CAPT. Bird, Walter Dennis, USN17 June 1989 - 9 December 1990
    15CAPT. Gemmill, Alan Mark (Vodka), USN :RADM9 December 1990 - 27 July 1992
    16CAPT. Eason, Richard Alexander, USN27 July 1992 - 2 November 1993
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

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


    Crew Contact
    Name: William "Bill" John Rigney Jr.
    Address: 13581 Texas Hwy 22, Cranfills Gap, Texas 76637-4019
    Home Phone: 254-597-1240
    Cell Phones: 254-978-1918 or 254-978-1498
    E-mail:midwayairdale@gmail.com

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    Last Updated 2 September 2022