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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Sabine (AO-25)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Alpha - Kilo - Foxtrot
NAKF
JANAP Tactical Voice Radio Call Sign - Nevada (T)ango - Section 6A of JANAP 119(F) 1968
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Presidential Unit Citation (Doolittle Raid) - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - Navy Expeditionary Service Medal (2-Cuba)
Second Row - China Service Medal (extended) - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal
Third Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (10) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia/Europe clasp)
Fourth Row - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Cuba, 2-Dominican Republic) - Philippine Liberation Medal


Cimarron Class Fleet Oiler:
  • Laid down, 18 September 1939, as SS Esso Albany (I), a Maritime Commission type (T3-S2-A1) tanker hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 10), at Bethlehem Steel, Sparrows Point, MD.
  • Launched, 27 April 1940
  • Acquired by the Navy, 25 September 1940
  • Commissioned USS Sabine (AO-25), 25 September 1940, CDR. Edmund W. Strother USN Ret. in command
  • During World War II USS Sabine was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Pacific Raids-1942
    Marshall-Gilbert raids, 1 February 1942
    Marianas operation
    Capture and occupation of Saipan, 11 June to 10 August 1944
    3rd Bonin raid, 3 and 4 July 1944
    Capture and occupation of Guam, 12 July to 15 August 1944
    Gilbert Islands operation
    24 to 26 November 1943
    Western Caroline Islands operation
    Capture and occupation of southern Palau Islands, 6 September to 14 October 1944
    Assault on the Philippine Islands, 7 to 24 September 1944
    Marshall Islands operation
    Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, 29 January to 8 February 1944
    Occupation of Eniwetok Atoll, 17 February to 2 March 1944
    Leyte operation
    Leyte landings, 18 October to 29 November 1944
    Asiatic-Pacific Raids-1944
    Truk attack, 16 to 17 February 1944
    Marianas attack, 21 to 22 February 1944
    Palau, Yap, Ulithi, Woleai and Sabang raid, 30 March to 1 April 1944
    Truk, Satawan, Ponope raid, 27 April to 1 May 1944
    Okinawa Gunto operation
    5th and 3rd Fleet operations in support of Okinawa Gunto, 23 March to 20 June 1945
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 24 March to 30 June 1945
    Hollandia operation
    Aitape Humboldt Bay-Tanahmerah Bay, 21 to 24 April 1944
    3rd Fleet operations against Japan
    10 July to 14 August 1945

  • USS Sabine was assigned to Occupation and China service in the Far East and Occupation service in Europe for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal

    China Service Medal (extended)
    Asia - 2 September to 15 November 194518 November 1945 to 22 April 1946
    Asia - 14 October to 3 November 19455 November 1946 to 18 January 1947
    Asia - 5 to 24 March 194727 to 30 March 1947
    Asia - 2 to 26 April 19475 to 10 and 29 to 31 July 1947
    Asia - 5 to 23 May 194711 November to 13 December 1947
    Asia - 4 to 6 and 13 to 25 July 194721 to 23 September 1948
    Asia - 16 October to 7 November 194710 October to 4 November 1948
    Asia - 17 to 24 July 194821 to 24 to 30 January 1949
    Asia - 5 to 17 September 1948 
    Asia - 3 to 7 October 1948 
    Asia - 3 to 9 November 1948 
    Asia - 17 to 20 January 1949 
    Europe - 13 May to 4 August 1950 
    Europe - 30 March to 24 July 1951 
    Europe - 29 October 1952 to 26 January 1953 

  • Decommissioned, 14 February 1955
  • Placed in service by the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), 10 December 1956
  • Placed out of service, 13 November 1957
  • Transferred to the Maritime Administration for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 14 January 1959
  • Reacquired and reinstated on the Naval Register in 1961
  • Recommissioned, 10 December 1961
  • Decommissioned, 20 February 1969, at Philadelphia, PA.
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia
  • Transferred to the Maritime Administration, 22 January 1970, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 December 1976
  • USS Sabine earned ten battle stars for World War II service
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 1 August 1983, scrapped in Taiwan
    Specifications:
    Displacement 7,470 t.(lt) 25,440 t.(fl)
    Length 553'
    Beam 75'
    Draft 32' 4"
    Speed 18.3 kts. (trial)
    Complement
    Officers 23
    Enlisted 280
    Largest Boom Capacity10 t.
    Armament
    one single 5"/38 cal dual purpose gun mount
    four 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts
    four twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    four twin 20mm AA gun mounts
    Cargo Capacity
    Oil - 123,700 Bbs
    Gasoline - 788,000 Gals
    Fuel Capacity NSFO - 15,000 Bbls
    Propulsion
    two Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Parsons-type geared turbines
    four Foster and Wheeler Express boilers, 450psi 750°
    double De Laval Main Reduction Gears
    two turbo-drive 400Kw 230V A.C. Ship's Service Generators
    twin propellers 13,500shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Sabine
    091902526
    100k
    Namesake
    Sabine - The Sabine River is a river, 510 miles long, in the Southern U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. From the 32nd parallel north and downstream, it serves as part of the boundary between the two states and empties into Sabine Lake, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico. Over the first half of the 19th century, the river formed part of the Spanish–American, Mexican–American, and Texan–American international boundaries.
    The Sabine just south of U.S. Route 80 near Big Sandy, Texas, 18 August 2011
    Photo by © Billy Hathorn
    Tommy Trampp
    Sabine 174k USS Sabine (AO-25) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Tommy Trampp
    Sabine 81k Stern view of USS Sabine (AO-25) off Mare Island Navy Yard, 12 December 1941 Darryl Baker
    Sabine 66k USS Sabine (AO-25), approaching USS Enterprise (CV-6) to begin refueling, February 1942. Auke Visser´s ESSO Tanker web site
    Sabine
    091902527
    303k USS Sabine (AO-25) alongside USS Enterprise (CV-6) ready to begin refueling, February 1942.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-63347a<, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives
    Rick Davis
    Sabine 137k USS Sabine (AO-25) refuels USS Enterprise (CV-6) in rough weather, during the approach phase of the Doolittle Raid on Japan, 17 April 1942. Note configuration of refueling gear, and spare anchor stowed on the oiler's after superstructure bulkhead.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-330659, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Sabine 64k USS Sabine (AO-25) refueling USS Honolulu (CL-48), date and location unknown. Auke Visser´s ESSO Tanker web site
    Sabine 64k USS Sabine (AO-25) refueling USS Nicholas (DD-449), date and location unknown. Auke Visser´s ESSO Tanker web site
    Sabine 338k This sequence of photographs of USS Sabine (AO-25) refueling the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-12) and a Baltimore Class Heavy Cruiser was taken by Photographer’s Mate 2/C Paul D. Guttman from the deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet somewhere in the Western Pacific during late 1944 or early 1945. The carrier visible in the distance is USS Yorktown (CV-10). In the second photo a crewman is visible in the lower right foreground preparing to fire a heaving line across to the tanker with a line-throwing gun. In the third photo he has just fired the gun, and the curved white line visible in the picture is the heaving line shooting across to Sabine. Robert Guttman for his father PhoM2/c Paul D. Guttman.
    Sabine 251k
    Sabine 209k
    Sabine 149k
    Sabine 120k
    Sabine 73k USS Sabine (AO-25) at anchor, circa 1945, location unknown.
    US Navy photo, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Robert Hurst
    Sabine 156k USS Sabine (AO-25) moored pierside at Naval Base, Los Angeles, Terminal Island, 12 August, 1954. Sabine waiting to be loaded with fuel before deployment to the western Pacific.
    Photo courtesy of the USC Libraries Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA.
    Bill Gonyo
    Sabine 95k USS Sabine (AO-25) under way in 1966, location unknown. © Richard Leonhardt
    Sabine 95k USS Sabine (AO-25)under way in 1966, location unknown. © Richard Leonhardt
    Sabine 57k USS Sabine (AO-25) with USS Fred T. Berry (DD-858) coming alongside for replenishment during Operation CANUS-SILEX, 28 August 1965. Photo was taken from USS Fred T. Berry © Richard Leonhardt
    Sabine 58k USS Sabine (AO-25) and USS Albany (CG-10) coming alongside for replenishment. Photo taken from USS Meredith (DD-890) in the Caribbean Sea in March 1967. Photo by Sheridan Carey ETN-3 USN
    Sabine 124k USS Sabine (AO-25) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, January 1964.
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Sabine 206k USS Sabine (AO-25) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Sabine 321k USS Sabine (AO-25) underway off Mayport, FL. date unknown.
    US Navy photo.
    Mike Smolinski

    USS Sabine (AO-25)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. Strother Jr., Edmund Weyman, USN Ret.25 September 1940 - 21 October 1940
    02LCDR. Harrison, Drayton21 October 1940 - 5 November 1940
    03CDR. Maples, Houston Ledbetter5 November 1940 - 14 December 1942
    04CDR. Riggs Jr., Whitaker Forcha14 December 1942 - 18 April 1943
    05CAPT. Junker, Alexander Foster18 April 1943 - 6 March 1944
    06CDR. Von Weien, Hans Claus6 March 1944 - 11 March 1946
    07CAPT. Mitchell, Ray Andes11 March 1946 - 24 September 1946
    08CAPT. Simpson, Samuel Douglas24 September 1946 - 10 October 1947
    09CAPT. Wolverton, Thomas Michael :RADM10 October 1947 - 11 September 1948
    10CAPT. Studebaker, David John11 September 1948 - 23 August 1949
    11CAPT. Tackney, Stephen Noel23 August 1949 - 1 August 1950
    12CAPT. Hannon, Edward Robert1 August 1950 - 14 August 1951
    13CAPT. Bellis, Louis Joseph14 August 1951 - 10 July 1952
    14CAPT. Curtis, Robert William 10 July 1952 - 17 August 1953
    15CAPT. Weeks, Robert Harper :RADM17 August 1953 - 24 July 1954
    16LCDR. Westcott, Thomas L.24 July 1954 - 14 February 1955
     Decommissioned 14 February 1955 to 15 November 1956
     In Service15 November 1956 - 10 December 1956
    17CAPT. Hoppe, William Everett10 December 1956 - 13 November 1957
     Decommissioned13 November 1957 - 14 December 1961
    18CAPT. Deacon, Edward Thorp14 December 1961 - 4 October 1962
    19CAPT. LaForest, Thomas John4 October3 1962 - 4 August 1963
    20CAPT. Werner, Ralph L. (Bull)4 August 1963 - 17 July 1964
    21CAPT. Lindstrom, Kenith Visen17 July 1964 - 10 June 1965
    22CAPT. Baumeister Jr., Charles10 June 1965 - 18 June 1966
    23CAPT. Stephens, Russel Thurmond18 June 1966 - 2 October 1967
    24CAPT. Yeagle, Carl H.2 October 1967 - 20 February 1969
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves. Photos courtesy Bill Gonyo

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Fleet Tankers Association
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    MARAD Vessel History Database
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    Last Updated 26 March 2021