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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USNS Mission San Jose (T-AO-125)
ex
 Mission San Jose (AO-125) (1947 - 1949)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Hotel - Papa - Tango
 NHPT
Mission Buenaventura Class Fleet Oiler:
  • Laid down, 17 July 1943, as SS Mission San Jose a Maritime Commission type (T2-SE-A2) tanker hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC 1271) at Marinship Corp, Sausalito, CA.
  • Launched, 7 October 1943
  • Delivered, 29 January 1944, to WSA for charter to Pacific Tankers, Inc.
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission, 3 May 1946, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Mobile, AL.
  • Acquired by the US Navy, 5 November 1947
  • Placed in service by the Naval Transportation Service as Mission San Jose (AO-125)
  • Absorbed in the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) 1 October 1949 and placed in service as USNS Mission San Jose (T-AO-125)
  • Placed out of service, and struck from the Naval Register, 15 October 1957
  • Transferred to the Maritime Administration for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.
  • MARAD Exchange Program, 24 June 1966, to Hudson Waterways Corp., renamed SS Ohio, converted to a combination containership and train ferry
  • Renamed SS Seatrain Ohio, 28 August 1967
  • Purchased at sea by Polk Tanker Corp., 30 June 1972, title to MARAD Trade-in and Build Program
  • Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA., 30 November 1973
  • Renamed SS Ohio 8 August 1978, and withdrawn from reactivation RRF
  • Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX. Group, circa 1992, used by the Beaumont Reserve Fleet as a warehouse for nearly 20 years
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping to ESCO Marine, Brownsville, TX., 17 March 2011, for $1,286,726, removed from the Beaumont Reserve Fleet, 20 April 2011
    Specifications:
    Displacement 5,532 t.(lt) 21,880 t.(fl)
    Length 523' 6"
    Beam 68'
    Draft 30' 10"
    Speed 15.1 kts (trial)
    Complement
    52 CivMar
    17 US Navy Armed Guard
    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 15,300DWT
    Oil 120,400 Bbls
    Gasoline 575,000 Gals
    Fuel Capacity NSFO 9,235 Bbls
    Propulsion
    one General Electric turbo-electric engine
    two Babcock and Wilcox D-type boilers, 600psi 825°

    Ship's Service Generators
     two turbo-drive 400Kw 450V A.C.
     two turbo-drive 85Kw 120V D.C.
     two turbo-drive 55Kw 120V D.C.
     one turbo-drive 50Kw 450V A.C.
    single propeller, 10,000shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    SS Mission San Jose (War Shipping Administration)
    Mission San Jose
    091912505    		 151k
    Namesake
    Mission San José - is a Spanish mission located in the present-day city of Fremont, CA. It was founded on June 11, 1797, by the Franciscan order and was the fourteenth Spanish mission established in California.
    Mission San José in Fremont, California, 23 April 2011.
    Photo by ©Tony Jin     		Tommy Trampp
    Mission San Jose
    091912506    		 139k Christening of SS Mission San Jose by the ship's sponsor Mrs Robert Bridges during the ship's launching at Marinship Corp, Sausalito, CA. 7 October 1943.
    Courtesy Auke Visser's Famous T-Tankers    		 Robert Hurst
    Mission San Jose
    091912507    		 132k SS Mission San Jose after launching at Marinship Corp, Sausalito, CA. 7 October 1943.
    Courtesy Auke Visser's Famous T-Tankers    		 Robert Hurst
    Tomahawk 73k SS Mission San Jose fitting out on the left as SS Tomahawk is being moved into her fitting out berth after launching on 10 October 1943 at Marinship Corp., Sausalito, CA. .
    US Maritime Commission photo courtesy Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages    		 Robert Hurst
    Mission San Jose
    091912508    		 96k SS Mission San Jose fitting out, 29 October 1943, twenty-two days after launching at Marinship Corp, Sausalito, CA.
    Courtesy Auke Visser's Famous T-Tankers    		 Robert Hurst
    Mission San Jose
    091912509    		 117k Bow view, 25 November 1943, of hull 28, SS Mission San Jose, fitting out at Dock A-2, Marinship Corp, Sausalito, CA.
    Courtesy Auke Visser's Famous T-Tankers    		 Robert Hurst
    SS Mission San Jose 107k SS Mission San Jose underway in San Francisco Bay probably during builders trials, circa January 1944.
    US Maritime Administration photo by Marinship Corp., courtesy Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages.    		 Robert Hurst
    USNS Mission San Jose (T-AO-125)
    Mission San Jose 1472k USNS Mission San Jose (T-AO-125) underway in Long Beach Harbor area, date unknown. David Buell
    MARAD (National Defense Reserve Fleet)
    SS Mission San Jose
    091912512    		 151k SS Seatrain Ohio (ex-USNS Mission San Jose (T-AO-125) laid up in reserve in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX., date unknown. Seatrain Ohio was a cargo ship designed with large, barrier-free holds for the flexible carriage of railcars, vehicles, containers, and general cargo. Its design was an attempt to adapt the "Seatrain"-type railcar carrier, first developed in the 1920s and 1930s, to carry more than just railroad freight cars. The ship is a textbook example of "jumboizing," the shipping-industry practice of enlarging and renewing obsolescent tonnage through the addition of new midsections and other alteration work. Seatrain Ohio was created in 1966-67 using sections from three obsolete World War II-era T2-SE-A2 tankers: the bow and forward cargo tanks of Mission San Diego; selected cargo tanks from the Maine [ex Tomahawk (T-AO-88)]; and the stern, propulsion plant, and deckhouses of the Ohio (ex Mission San Jose). The ship was employed almost exclusively by the U.S. Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service (later the Military Sealift Command) to move military cargoes. Numerous supply missions to Vietnam form the ship's most notable service.
    Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print, Call Number/Physical Location HAER TX-111    		 Library of Congress
    SS Mission San Jose
    091912510    		 92k SS Seatrain Ohio (ex-USNS Mission San Jose (T-AO-125) profiles and deck plans, forecastle deck, spar deck, upper deck, second deck, hold.
    Library of Congress - Seatrain Ohio, Beaumont Reserve Fleet, Neches River, Beaumont, Jefferson County, TX Drawings from Survey HAER TX-111    		 Robert Hurst
    SS Mission San Jose
    091912511    		 103k
    SS Mission San Jose 102k SS Ohio (ex-USNS Mission San Jose (T-AO-125) laid up in reserve in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX. 2004.
    Photo courtesy Harry Stott, Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages.    		 Robert Hurst
    SS Mission San Jose 85k SS Ohio laid up in reserve in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX., June 2008. Ohio was used by the Fleet as a warehouse for nearly 20 years.
    US Maritime Administration photo courtesy Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages.    		 Robert Hurst
    USNS Mission San Jose (T-AO-125)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    MARAD Vessel History Data Base
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    Last Updated 16 May 2025