Replies

Nantahala reached Ulithi, Western Carolines 1 October to continue station and at sea logistic support for the mighty, hard-hitting ships of the Pacific Fleet. When not steaming with a replenishment group in the Western Pacific, she refueled and replenished ships at Ulithi. During the remainder of the war she serviced as many as 16 ships a day at this important forward staging base. While anchored in Ulithi Lagoon, she took part in rescue operations following an enemy midget submarine attack which resulted in the torpedoing and burning of the USS Mississinawa (AO 59) on 20 November.

Between 21 October and 24 December Nantahala made four deployments in support of ships of the Fast Carrier Task Force. She operated with the replenishment tankers during the Battle off Cape Engano 25-26 October, and during November and December she ranged the Philippine Sea as carrier aircraft pounded enemy targets on Formosa and in the Philippines. During refueling operations in mid-December, she survived the great typhoon of 17-18 December (Typhoon Cobra), although winds, which she recorded at 124 knots, and giant seas caused considerable topside damage.

Communication Received by Nantahala During WWII
Courtesy of Clyde Rockhill

Nantahala returned to Ulithi 24 December, and sailed January 1945 to support carrier operations in the South China Sea. While she refueled ships of the task force north and west of Luzon, American planes struck devastating blows at Japanese shipping and at enemy bases from Indo-China to Formosa while supporting the invasion of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf.

Communication Received by Nantahala During WWII
Courtesy of Clyde Rockhill

After returning to Ulithi via Leyte Gulf 21 January, Nantahala next made two refueling deployments from 8 February to 10 March in support of the invasion and capture of Iwo Jima. Then between 22 March and 31 March she took part in three replenishment missions to Ryukyus where she helped maintain the mobility and striking power of American ships during the invasion and conquest of Okinawa.

Communication Received by Nantahala During WWII
Courtesy of Clyde Rockhill

After serving as station tanker in Leyte Gulf, Philippines, Nantahala departed Ulithi 3 July for extended replenishment duty with the 3rd Fleet. Assigned to the main replenishment group, she refueled carriers and escorts of TF 38 during the closing weeks of the war, a period in which the might of American seapower pounded targets in the Japanese home islands from Hakkaido to the Inland Sea with massive and devastating naval and aerial bombardments.

Communication Received by Nantahala During WWII
Courtesy of Clyde Rockhill

En route to Ulithi when offensive operations ceased 15 August, Nantahala resumed refueling operations at Japan the 27th. Between 8 and 16 September she served victorious ships of the Fleet at anchor in Tokyo Bay. Then she sailed via Eniwetok for the United States, arriving Seattle 10 November.

During the immediate postwar years Nantahala conducted world-wide refueling and replenishment operations. She deployed to the Far East 28 January 1946 and until returning to Sad Pedro, CA 26 March 1947, she operated from the Marianas and Japan, on the coast of China, the Philippines, and the Malay Peninsula and in addition carried oil from the Middle East to the Far East. Between 12 September and 20 November she cruised from the West Coast to the East Coast via the Middle East and the Suez ; and during the next years she made two deployments to the Mediterranean before returning to the West Coast 23 October 1948. The far-ranging oiler made a seven month deployment to the Far East in 1949. After returning to the West Coast 22 October 1949. She decommissioned at San Diego 1 June 1950 and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

Steaming in Chesapeake Bay 1964

Nantahala recommissioned at Long Beach 29 December 1950, Commander W. S. Howell in command. Following a five week run to the Far East and back she transited the Panama Canal 3 April and carried fuel to the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. She arrived Boston 19 may and during the next ten months operated along the East Coast and in the Caribbean.

North Atlantic Swells, Summer of 1966

Between 3 March 1952 and 4 October 1961 Nantahala made eight deployments to the Mediterranean where she served with the Mighty 6th Fleet. They varied in duration from three to seven months and encompassed the length and breadth of the Mediterranean. Prepared to replenish whenever called upon, this versatile, hard working oiler provided valuable support for peace keeping operations by the ever-vigilant 6th Fleet. During the Suez Crisis in November, 1956, for instance, she replenished 96 ships while serving as the only fleet oiler in the Eastern Mediterranean. When not deployed with the 6th Fleet, she participated in the US or NATO exercises in the North Atlantic and refueled ships of the Atlantic Fleet while cruising from the coast of Western Europe to the coast of Brazil as well as to the Caribbean and along the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Suda Bay, Crete
The Nantahala takes on fuel at the pier in Suda Bay.

On 20 November 1961 Nantahala departed Norfolk for the Dominican Republic where she supported US ships called in to protect the stability of that Caribbean nation's government from possible overthrow by followers of the late dictator Trujillo. After returning to Norfolk the following month she resumed replenishment duty of the West Indies in January 1962 in preparation for recovery operations following USMC Col. John Glenn's successful suborbital flight in "Friendship 7" on 20 February.

Crossing the Equator September 4 1967

Crossing the Equator September 4 1967
"Pollywogs" make their way to face the Court. Clothes are worn backwards and inside out. The "charges" against them are held in their teeth. On their way to court they must crawl through several canvas chutes filled with garbage and are flogged by "shellbacks" with rag-filled canvas bats.

Crossing the Equator September 4 1967
Kissing the Royal Baby's belly is a must. Of course it is covered with hot sauce and other goodies

During the next year and a half Nantahala operated along the East Coast and in the Caribbean. While serving out of Guantanamo Bay in mid-February 1963, she took part in the search for and tracking of Anzoategui, a Venezuelan freighter which was seized by Cuban-oriented leftists off Santo Domingo. US ships chased the hijacked ship to the coast of Brazil where she was captured by units of the Brazilian Navy. In May Nantahala again replenished ship of the recovery force waiting to pick up Project Mercury Astronaut Commander M. Scott Carpenter, USN, after his orbital flight 24 May.

USS Nantahala Alongside USS Intrepid

Captain Williams' "Texaco Credit Card
Captain C. S. Williams, Jr. would fly this flag whenever the Intrepid was refueling.

Nantahala departed for the Mediterranean 6 August for operations which lasted until late in the year. From 1963 she maintained a pattern of Mediterranean deployments and alternated duty in the 6th Fleet with replenishment cruises and Atlantic Fleet exercises in the Atlantic and the Caribbean.

On July 29, 1967 the USS Forrestal was conducting combat operations off Vietnam when a rocket accidentally fired from an F-4 Phantom on the hanger deck, striking a parked and armed A-4 Skyhawk. 134 men lost their lives and 64 more were injured by the ensuing fire.
The Nantahala met and refueled her on her way to Norfolk. These photos show some of the damage from that fire.

Nantahala receive six battle stars for World War II service.

Entering Valletta, Malta 1970

The above is from Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division.

Mediterranean Sea, Nantahala (AO-60) refueling Steinaker (DD-863). Photo taken from Wallace L Lind (DD-703)

The Nantahala was stricken July 2, 1973 and used as a storage vessel at Norfolk, VA. She was disposed of by MARAD sale March 5, 1975.

Additional Sources:

www.junkyardartist.com
www.usmcweb.com
www.navsource.org

On this day In History

Birthdates which occurred on September 22:
0130 Claudius Galenus, Italian physician/scholar
1290 Bilbo Baggins (in Shire Reconning)
1452 Girolamo Savonarola (d.1498), born in Ferrara. (best known as a book burner)
1694 Lord Chesterfield letter writer; introduced Gregorian calendar (1752)
1791 Michael Faraday discovered principle of electric motor
1822 Brig Gen Eppa Hunton fought in most ANV campaigns
1827 John Grubb Parke, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1900
1829 William Worth Belknap, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1833 Stephen Dill Lee, Lt Gen (Confederate Army), died in 1908
1842 Abdul-Hamid II 34th sultan of Turkey (lost Romania & Serbia)
1882 Wilhelm Keitel, German fieldmarshal
1885 Erich von Stroheim early film director/actor (Grand Illusion)
1892 Frank Sullivan humorist (New Yorker Magazine)
1895 Paul Muni actor (Acad Award 1936-Angel on My Shoulder, Juarez)
1901 Allan "Rocky" Lane Mishawaka Ind, actor (voice of Mr Ed, Red Ryder)
1902 John Houseman Bucharest Romania, actor (Kingsfield-Paper Chase)
1912 Alfred G Vanderbilt thoroughbred horse owner (Native Dancer)

1920 Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky & his Friends, Bullwinkle), born

1922 Chen Ning Yang China, physicist/disproved parity (Nobel 1957)
1924 Norvel Lee US, light-heavyweight boxer (Olympic-gold-1952)
1927 Tom Lasorda baseball manager (LA Dodgers)
1932 Ingemar Johansson Sweden, world heavyweight boxing champ (1952)
1939 Junko Tabei Japan, 1st woman to climb Mount Everest
1942 William C Nelson, rep/astronaut (STS 24)
1949 David Coverdale rocker (Whitesnake-Here We Go Again)
1954 Shari Belafonte Harper NYC, actress (Julie-Hotel)
1956 Debby Boone Hackensack NJ, singer-had her life lit up
1957 Mark Johnson Madison WI, NHL forward (Olympic-gold-1980, Pitts, NJ)
1960 Joan Jett Phila, singer (Blackhearts-I Love Rock 'n Roll)
1960 Scott Baio Bkln, (Joanie loves Chachi, Charles in Charge, Zapped)
1961 Catherine Oxenberg actress (Dallas)
1969 Melissa Lynn Costello Shenandoah WV, Miss WV-America (1991)

Deaths which occurred on September 22:
454 Aetius, the supreme army commander in the west, murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the emperor of the West.
1408 Johannes VII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor
1520 Selim I, captured Baghdad/Sultan of Turkey (1512-20), dies at 53
1554 Coronado dies, without finding the fabled cities of gold

1776 Captain Nathan Hale, American patriot, was executed by the British for spying.
("I regret that I have only one life to give for my country")

1828 Shaka South African Zulu king, dies
1904 Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph died in Washington state
1923 Marquess of Ripon game hunter, dies, after shooting 52nd grouse
1987 Dan Rowan, actor (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in), dies at 65
1989 Irving Berlin composer, dies at 101
1996 Dorothy Lamour, actress (Road to Bali, Road to Rio), dies at 81
1997 Shoichi Yokoi, Japanese WW II fighter (surrendered in 1972), dies at 82

Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties

Iraq
21-Sep-2004 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private 1st Class Nathan E. Stahl Not reported Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

Afghanistan
A GOOD DAY

http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
//////////
Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php

On this day...
0530 Boniface II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0530 St Felix IV ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0530 [Discorus] begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1192 King Richard I the Lion Hearted was captured in Austria on his return from the Third Crusade.
1348 Jews in Zurich Switzerland were accused of poisoning wells.
1648 Battle at Pilawce Bohdan Chmielricki beat John II Casimir.
1656 The General Provincial Court in session at Patuxent, Maryland, impanels the first all-woman jury in the Colonies to hear evidence against Judith Catchpole, who is accused of murdering her child. The jury acquits her after hearing her defense of never having been pregnant.
1692 Last person hanged for witchcraft in US
1733 Polish King Lesczynski flees to Danzig
1735 Robert Walpole is 1st British PM to live at 10 Downing Street
1761 King George III of England crowned. George was German and had been Elector of Hanover. Coincidentally, the composer Handel, who was working in London when King George was crowned, had gone to London after skipping out on his last job...working for George in Hanover. Fortunately for Handel, King George forgave him.

1776 Nathan Hale executed as a spy by the British

1780 General Benedict Arnold, American commander of West Point, met with British spy Major John André to hand over plans of the important Hudson River fort to the enemy.
1784 Russian trappers established a colony on Kodiak Island, AK
1789 Office of Postmaster General of the US established by Congress
1792 Origin of French Republican Era
1817 John Quincy Adams becomes secretary of State
1823 The Angel Moroni 1st appeared to Joseph Smith, according to Smith (founder of Mormon Church).
1863 President Lincoln makes his Emancipation Proclamation speech
1868 Race riots in New Orleans La
1869 The opera "Das Rheingold" is produced (Munich)
1903 Italo Marchiony granted patent for the ice cream cone
1903 1st cowboy film, "Kit Carson," premiered in US.
1905 Race riot in Atlanta Georgia (10 blacks & 2 whites killed)
1911 Cy Young at 44, wins his 511th & final game
1912 Eddie Collins steals 6 bases in a game, for 2nd time in 11 days
1913 Coal mine explosion kills 263 at Dawson New Mexico
1915 Southern Methodist University (Dallas Texas) holds its 1st class
1915 Xavier University, 1st Black Catholic College in US, opens in NO LA
1918 General Allenby leads the British army against the Turks, taking Haifa and Nazareth, Palestine
1919 Steel strike begins in US
1920 Chicago grand jury convenes to investigate charges that 8 White Sox players conspired to fix the 1919 World Series
1925 Yank Ben Paschal hits 2 inside-the-park homers
1927 Famous "Long count" fight (Dempsey loses boxing title to Tunney)
1934 Typhoon strikes Honshu Island, Japan, and killed 4,000. (And where was George Bush?)
1937 Forest fire kills 14 & injures 50 in Cody Wyoming

1937 "The Hobbit," by J.R.R. Tolkien (b.1892), first published

1941 US launchs its 1st Liberty-ship, "Patrick Henry."

1943 British dwarf submarines attack Tirpitz
1944 Boulogne reoccupied by Allies
1945 Stan Musial gets 5 hits off 5 pitchers on 5 consecutive pitches
1946 Evelyn Dick charged with butchering husband
1949 USSR detonates its 1st atomic bomb
1949 The Communist People’s Republic of China was proclaimed under Mao Tse Tung with Chou En-Lai as Premier.
1950 Omar N Bradley promoted to rank of 5-star general
1953 North Korean pilot Lieutenant Ro Kim Suk landed his aircraft at Kimpo airfield outside Seoul. The Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, powered by a jet engine superior to those then used in American fighter planes, first saw combat in Korea during November 1950, where its performance shifted the balance of air power to Russian-backed North Korea. On April 26, 1953, two U.S. Air Force B-29s dropped leaflets behind enemy lines, offering a $50,000 reward and political asylum to any pilot delivering an intact MiG-15 to American forces for study. Although Ro denied any knowledge of the bounty, he collected the reward, and American scientists were able to examine the MiG-15.
1954 1st nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, commissioned.
1955 Commercial TV begins in England
1955 Heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano KOs Archie Moore in 9
1957 "Maverick" premieres
1960 Mali (without Senegal) gains independence from France (National Day)
1961 Antonio Albertondo (Argentina) at 42, completes the 1st "double" crossing swim of the English Channel in 43 hrs. 10 min
1964 "Fiddler on the Roof" opens on Broadway, runs 3,242 performances
1964 "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." premiers on NBC-TV
1966 Only 413 show up at a Yankee Stadium game
1968 Twins' Cesar Tovar pitched a hitless inning & plays all 9 positions
1968 Zond 5 completes flight
1969 SF Giant Willie Mays, becomes 2nd player to hit HR # 600
1970 Pres Nixon requests 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses
1972 Dictator Idi Amin deports 8,000 Asians out of Uganda
1973 Henry Kissinger, sworn in as Secretary of State
1975 Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate President Ford in SF Calif
1975 World Football League folds
1980 Iraqi troops seize part of Iran in a border dispute; Iran-Iraq war begins
1983 Zhu Jianhau (China) sets high jump record at 7'9 3/4"
1985 Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes to become Heavyweight Boxing Champ
1985 Rock & country musicians participate in FarmAid in Champaign, Ill
1986 LA Dodger Fernando Valenzuela is 1st Mexican to win 20 games
1987 2nd regular-season National Football League player strike begins
1987 Red Sox Wade Boggs gets his 200th hit in 5 straight seasons
1988 South Korean coaches attack the New Zealand referee after disputing his decision, the Olympic Korean boxer stages a 67 minute sit-in
1989 IRA-bomb kills 10 British marines in Kent
1990 Saudi Arabia expells many Jordanian & Yemeni envoys
1990 Andre Dawson steals his 300th base & is only player other than Willie Mays to have 300 HRs, 300 steals & 2,000 hits
1991 Yugoslav army begins invasion of Croatia.
1991 Calif University makes the Dead Sea Scrolls public
1993 Nolan Ryan, 46, pitches his last game
1993 STS-51 (Discovery) lands
1993 Supreme Soviet dismisses president Boris Yeltsin
1997 Terrorists in Algeria kill 53 people in Beni-Slimane and then mutilated and burned the bodies.
1998 Chinese government begins cracking down on the efforts of dissidents to organize the fledgling China Democratic Party.
2000 A Belgrade court finds Pres. Clinton and other world leaders guilty of war crimes for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. 14 leaders were sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison.
2001 In Afghanistan the ruling Taliban rejected Pres. Bush’s ultimatum and to give up Osama bin Laden. (Say goodnight Gracie)
2002 Erika Harold, Miss Illinois, crowned in Atlantic City, NJ, as Miss America 2003
2003 A US DynCorp plane crashed while fumigating cocaine-producing crops in volatile northern Colombia, killing the American pilot: "preliminary information indicates the aircraft was struck by hostile ground fire." (See "Imperial Grunts" Robert D. Kaplan)
2003 Iraqi corporate and personal income taxes were capped at 15%.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Ancient Egyptian New Year
Mali : Independence Day (1960)
Wheaton, Illinois : Autumn Harvest Festival
National Tie Week (Day 3)
National Dog Week (Day 3)
Miniature Golf Day
Classical Music Month

Religious Observances
RC Digna & Merita, martyrs
RC Florentius, hermit to Mont Glonne

Religious History
1601 The first (Catholic) priests of the newly established Christian Church in Japan -- Sebastian Chimura and Aloysius Niabara -- were ordained in their hometown of Nagasaki.
1692 During the famous Salem Witch Trials, the last 8 "witches" were hanged in Massachusetts. When the turmoil finally settled, 13 women and 7 men had been executed, and over 150 others remained in jail through the next summer.
1827 The angel Moroni reportedly revealed the golden tablets (containing the "Book of Mormon") to Joseph Smith. They were hidden near the family farm, in Palmyra, NY. Smith's English translation of their strange hieroglyphics became the literary foundation for the new Mormon religion.
1871 Death of Charlotte Elliott, 82, English devotional writer and author of the enduring hymn, "Just As I Am." (A serious illness at 33 had left her an invalid her remaining 50 years.)
1950 Basil and Esther Miller incorporated World-Wide Missions in California. Headquartered today in Pasadena, this evangelical missions agency specializes in providing relief and medical aid to over 30 countries worldwide.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Condoms Are Named for Clinton, Lewinsky

Sep 21, 7:00 AM (ET)

BEIJING (AP) - A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America's 42nd president.
Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.

He said that after the promotion ends, the Clinton condoms will go on sale in southern China for 29.8 Yuan ($3.72) for a box of 12, while the Lewinsky model will be priced at 18.8 Yuan ($2.35) for the same quantity.
"The Clinton condom will be the top of our line," he said. "The Lewinsky condom is not quite as good."

Liu said the company had chosen to use the Clinton name because consumers viewed the former president as a responsible person, who would want to stress safe sex as an effective way to prevent the spread of the HIV virus.
"The names we chose are symbols of people who are responsible and dedicated to their jobs," he said. "I believe Bill Clinton cannot be unhappy about this because he's a very generous man."

Liu said the company did not believe using the Clinton and Lewinsky names constituted a violation of copyright or other laws.
"We have received full approval from the local Industrial and Commercial Bureau to start production," he said.
Clinton has campaigned aggressively for heightened AIDS awareness in China, where the disease is spreading rapidly.

In impeachment proceedings conducted by the U.S. Senate in 1999, he was acquitted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. The charges stemmed from denials he made about a sexual relationship he maintained with Lewinsky, a former White House intern.

Thought for the day :
"My definition of a redundancy is an air-bag in a politician's car."
Larry Hagman