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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

YO-257
ex
 YOG-72


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Delta - Papa - Foxtrot
 NDPF
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Gasoline Barge (Self-propelled):
  • Built by Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, WA
  • Laid down, 15 December 1943
  • Launched, 23 February 1944
  • Delivered to the US Navy and placed in service as Gasoline Barge (self-propelled) YOG-72, 16 November 1944
  • Sailed from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor in convoy of other yard craft, 23 December 1944 - January 1945
  • Deaprted Pearl for Eniwetok in convoy, 21 January 1945
  • Supported Iwo Jima operations by supplying aviation gasoline from Saipan, March - May 1945
  • At close of hostilities was stationed at Buckner Bay, Okinawa
  • Remained in Western Pacific postwar, stationed at Guam during 1950s
  • Redesignated Fuel Barge (self-propelled) YO-257, circa 1962
  • YO-257 was loaned to the US Coast Guard from 16 September to 12 November 1963
  • While assigned to the Coast Guard YO-257 supported the establishment of a LORAN A-C Station at Yap in the Western Caroline Islands
    YO-257 wasn't equipped to take on the 400 mile trip from Guam to Yap. No radar or other navigational equipment was on board. Each afternoon a plane would fly over and give the ship any course corrections needed. The rear gun mount was sealed and a shower head installed. Since the ship could only carry enough water for drinking, rainwater was relied on to replenish the gun tub water supply for showers. YO-257 carried water based asphalt to be used for a runway for planes servicing the new LORAN A-C Station. In order for the crew to have lockers and bunks, they were removed from other ships mothballed at Guam.
  • Placed out of service at Naval Station Guam, circa 12 November 1963
  • Reactivated and assigned to Naval Station Subic Bay, during 1960s
    [Per decklog entry of Thursday 4 January 1968 for USS Orleck (DD-882)]
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 15 August 1980
  • Sold for scrapping by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, August 1982
  • Purchased by Atlantis Submarines Hawaii, date unknown
  • Final Disposition, reefed off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, near Waikiki, 1989
    Specifications:
    Displacement 440 tons (lt) 1,390 tons (fl)
    Length 174'
    Beam 33'
    Draft 13'
    Speed unknown
    Cargo Capacity 6,570 barrels
    Complement 1 Officer, 22 Enlisted
    Armament two single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Propulsion
    General Motors Diesel engine, single screw, 640shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    YOG-72
    141307201    		 55k YO-257 moored pierside, date and location unknown. Fred O. Robson
    YOG-72
    141307202    		 34k YO-257 moored pierside, date and location unknown. Fred O. Robson
    YOG-72
    141307203    		 225k YO-257 under way, date and location unknown. Fred O. Robson
    YOG-72
    141307208    		 82k YO-257 moored to a buoy in Yap Harbor, Caroline Islands in 1963, probably during the period when the Navy loaned her to the Coast Guard. YO-257 was being used to haul emulsified asphalt to Yap to pave the original dirt runway built by the Japanese. Bryan Fisher courtesy Fred Goodwin
    YOG-72
    141307209    		 79k YO-257 moored at the fuel piers, NSD Subic Bay during the Vietham conflict. Also present are YOG-61, an unidentified YON, and Caliente (AO-53). The civilian tanker Overseas Rebecca is morred behind the yard craft.
    Photo from the Navy Supply Corps Newsletter, November/December 1990.    		 Blade Shepherd-Jones
    YOG-72
    141307204    		 563k The former YO-257 reefed off the coast of Oahu, near Waikiki. Photo by Blade Shepherd-Jones
    YOG-72
    141307206    		 170k The former YO-257 reefed off the coast of Oahu, near Waikiki, 08 March 2014. Richard Leonhardt
    YOG-72
    141307207    		 110k
    Commanding Officers
    01BOAT Judge Lester Russell USN(March 1945)
    There is no DANFS history available for YOG-72 / YO-257 at Navsource
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Craft (Yard and District Craft) Index Back To The Gasoline Barge [Self-propelled] (YOG) Photo Index Back To The Fuel Barge [Self-propelled] (YO) Photo Index
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo and is maintained by David L. Wright
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 11 April 2021