USS Tappahannock (AO-43) was a in the United States Navy that served during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. She was sold for scrap in 1987.
Service history Tappahannock was laid down as SS Jorkay, a type T2-A tanker, under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 157) on 24 December 1941 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (hull number 226). Renamed Tappahannock and designated AO-43 on 31 March 1942, she was launched on 18 April 1942, sponsored by Mrs. George Jessup, acquired by the Navy from the War Shipping Administration on 29 May 1942, and converted for Navy service at the Philadelphia Navy Yard between 1 June and 17 July. Nearly midway through this conversion period, the oiler was commissioned on 22 June 1942. She was the only U.S. Navy ship named with the cognate name for the Rappahannock River in eastern Virginia.
1942 Following her shakedown cruise, Tappahannock reported for duty with Commander, Service Force, Atlantic (ComServLant), on 13 August, and soon got underway south for Panama. In the Canal Zone, the oiler took on board 300 tons of stores for Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron (MTBRon) 3, as well as two PT boats, and left Balboa on 29 August, bound for the South Pacific
Tappahannock unloaded her cargo at Nouméa, New Caledonia, on 18 September; and then visited Auckland, New Zealand; Pago Pago, Samoa; and Nadi, Fiji, before becoming station tanker at Nouméa. There, she fueled a wide variety of ships until 20 November, when she headed for the west coast.
Tappahannock arrived at San Pedro on 11 December and then moved to San Diego, where she remained through the end of the year.
1943 Getting underway again on 2 January 1943, the oiler operated briefly out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, before returning south to San Pedro and San Francisco en route back to the South Pacific.
By early spring, Tappahannock was in the Guadalcanal area, as American forces sought to consolidate their hold on the bitterly contested Solomons. On 1 April, a Grumman J2F Duck seaplane, attached to , crashed into the oiler's mainmast and damaged her radar tower and antenna. The ship then shifted her berth from Espiritu Santo to Tulagi Harbor.
On 6 April, she proceeded to Lunga Point, off Guadalcanal, and then commenced transferring fuel and diesel oil to and Fuel Oil Barge YO-147, as well as transferring highly volatile aviation gas to shore tanks. Later in the day, at 1930, Japanese aircraft succeeded in dropping a few bombs astern of Tappahannocks berth during a nuisance raid, but did no damage.
The following day found the oiler still off Lunga, pumping aviation gasoline to tanks ashore. At 1130, the ship received an air raid alert for a Japanese attack expected at 1245. Fifteen minutes later, Tappahannock intercepted a dispatch ordering all ships in the vicinity to get underway immediately. The oiler disconnected her fueling hose and quickly got underway, in company with destroyers and . The trio then proceeded through the Lunga Channel at their best sustained smokeless speed of 17 knots. Unknowingly the American sailors were steaming directly in the path of a segment of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's force as he made his last thrust against the American Navy in the Solomon Islands.
At 1510, as the three-ship convoy steamed through a smooth sea, beneath an overcast sky, a "Condition-Red" warning sounded from Guadalcanal. Four minutes later, lookouts noted tell-tale bursts far astern, and then spotted seven aircraft milling about, as if engaged in a "dog fight." But suddenly the apparent melee became an orderly formation of Aichi D3A "Vals."
For the next five minutes, Tappahannock, the key target of the Japanese dive bombers, fought for her life. The first Japanese dive bomber came in from off the port quarter — as the ship was swinging to starboard to evade the attack — and dropped her bomb abaft the bridge. The oiler shuddered as the explosion sent up a geyser of water higher than the mainmast. Three cane fenders and a Franklin lifebuoy were carried away topside while a fountain of water showered the bridge. Below, thermo overload switches went dead in the machinery spaces, and the oiler began to lose way.
In the meantime, Tappahannocks gunners concentrated their fire on the Japanese aircraft; and it dipped lower and lower until it splashed into the water. At the same time, a quick glance in Woodworths direction revealed that the destroyer was keeping up her share of anti-aircraft fire.
While Tappahannocks "black gang" below valiantly fought to get underway again, a second attacker came in from off the oiler's starboard bow, on a course diagonally across the ship and soon entered the concentrated gunfire of one three-inch and three 20-millimeter guns. However, the "Val" stubbornly remained airborne and escaped the hail of gunfire; but no sooner had the second aircraft been driven off when three of the oiler's 20-millimeter guns jammed.
Her engineers soon were able to get the ship underway again, and Tappahannock began to pick up steam. Putting her helm over hard-a-port, the ship prepared to face a third tormentor which came in from directly astern. Apparently — and fortunately for Tappahannock — the momentary power-loss had been a good thing since the Japanese pilot misjudged his target's speed and ended up dropping his bomb clear of the ship — the near miss drenching the forecastle anti-aircraft gunners with water from the splash.
A fourth "Val" followed the third one, and, in the disbelieving eyes of the gunners astern, "walked right into" the fire of their guns, coming, in the astonished view of one gun captain — "right down the tracer trajectory." Hit after hit began to tear pieces off the "Val" as it wobbled through the hail of gunfire. Its bomb exploded off the oiler's starboard quarter, and Tappahannocks number six 20-millimeter mount on the bridge "polished off" the enemy dive bomber, sending it spinning into the water where it exploded, leaving only a fleeting pall of smoke to mark its passing.
The fifth and final "Val" crossed the ship from starboard to port, on a path directly across her well-deck aft. His bomb detonated just alongside, causing more severe vibrations than the first near miss and leading to fears that, this time, the ship had suffered serious harm. However, a subsequent check of the damage revealed only some dished hull-plates. As suddenly as it had begun, the attack was over.
The oiler's companions had also emerged unscathed, and Woodworth claimed downing one "Val". However, behind them at Tulagi, others had not fared as well. Kanawha and had been struck and sunk.
The oiler arrived at Espiritu Santo soon thereafter, and repair crews from remedied her topside damage and patched her hull below the waterline. After her repairs had been completed, Tappahannock resumed active service as American forces continued to strengthen their hold on the Solomon Islands. At 0023 on the morning of 24 May, the oiler was again the target of a Japanese air attack, but the nocturnal raider dropped only a single bomb and missed.
The oiler continued supporting Allied operations in the South Pacific until late August when she headed home to the west coast. She then conducted two voyages from San Pedro to Pearl Harbor before heading west to support the American invasion of the Gilbert Islands in November and December.
1944 For the remainder of the war, Tappahannock conducted vital fueling duties for the Fleet as it pounded westward and northward against the Japanese empire. She earned the remainder of her Pacific battle stars by supporting operations which ranged from the Gilbert Islands to Okinawa Gunto. She supported the occupations of Kwajalein, Majuro, Guam, Tinian, the Southern Palaus, Luzon, Okinawa and aided the fast carriers in their raids on the Bonins, Philippines, and Formosa.
In the course of these operations, she conducted underway replenishments with the task forces and served as station tanker in newly occupied lagoons and harbors. Her task was unglamorous, but dangerous and one of the most vital to be entrusted to a support ship. Without "beans, bullets, and black oil," the fast-moving task forces could not have pounded the Japanese empire into submission.
On 18 October 1944, Tappahannock refueled ships of Task Group (TG) 58.3 during their retirement from air strikes on Formosa. The Japanese struck back with torpedo plane attacks on the American forces which damaged cruisers and . On that day, the oiler took on board 185 enlisted men and 12 officers from the stricken Houston and, three days later, disembarked them at Ulithi as she reloaded to resume replenishment duties which she faithfully discharged for the next few weeks.
On 20 November 1944, Tappahannock again lay at anchor at Ulithi. Her war diary noted that, at 0540, reported ramming and sinking a submarine. Six minutes later, was torpedoed and immediately enveloped in flames. Tappahannock went to general quarters immediately to be ready should another attack be launched. At 0824, the oiler picked up 36 survivors from Mississinewa which had capsized and sunk.
1945–1948 Between deployments supporting the fast carrier task forces at sea, Tappahannock returned to the west coast of the United States calling at the familiar ports of San Pedro and San Diego, California, as well as at Astoria, Oregon, before heading west on 21 February 1945 and arriving at Pearl Harbor five days later. Subsequently, operating out of Eniwetok, Kerama Retto, and Ulithi, the oiler supported 3rd and 5th Fleet operations against the Japanese homeland — duties which she continued as the war progressed closer and closer to Japan.
After the cessation of hostilities on 14 August, Tappahannock continued in her vital support role during the occupation of the erstwhile enemy's homeland. She arrived at Tokyo Bay on 26 August 1945 and remained there until 22 November when she steamed for Yokosuka. She proceeded thence to Tsingtao, China, where she arrived seven days before Christmas. The oiler remained, as station tanker, at the one-time German colonial showplace city until 26 April 1946, when she got underway for the Near East to load a cargo of oil.
Tappahannock returned to the China Coast in the late spring, making port at Hong Kong, British Crown Colony, on 7 June. She remained there for the rest of that month and into the next, before a typhoon swirled up the South China Sea, forcing the oiler to sea on 16 July for typhoon evasion. Departing Hong Kong on 6 August, she sailed again for the Near East, for Ras Tanura and Colombo, to load another cargo of petroleum products for delivery to the fleet serving on occupation duty in Japanese and Chinese coastal waters.
On 17 September, Tappahannock put into Sasebo, Japan, before heading for Shanghai, China, two days later. She remained there from 22 to 28 September, before sailing for Yokosuka, from which port she operated until 15 October, when she set sail for the west coast, via Pearl Harbor. Tappahannock then conducted local operations out of San Pedro and San Francisco into 1947, before getting underway for Yokosuka in April.
Subsequently, moving to North China, she arrived at Tsingtao on 20 May and began operations at that China port. While engaged in these duties, she was assigned to the Naval Transportation Service on 1 July and shifted her base to Yokohama, Japan. She remained on duty there until sailing for Norfolk, Virginia, on 9 September. She steamed via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and made port at Norfolk on 10 January 1948.
1948–1950