USS Mount Baker (AE-4)
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name |
|
Namesake | Kilauea |
Completed | 1941 |
Acquired | 14 November 1940 |
Commissioned |
|
Decommissioned | January 1947 |
Stricken | 2 December 1969 |
Fate | Scrapped |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Lassen-class ammunition ship |
Displacement |
|
Length | 459 ft (140 m) |
Beam | 63 ft (19.2 m) |
Draft | 25 ft 11 in (7.9 m) |
Propulsion | 2 x 9 cyl. Nordberg diesel engines each with 3155 brake horsepower at 225 rpm geared to 1 shaft |
Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
Capacity | 5,000 deadweight tons |
Complement | 280 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
|
USS Mount Baker (AE‑4), originally named USS Kilauea (AE-4), was acquired by the Navy 14 November 1940 while building by
Service history
1941-1947 (World War II and aftermath)
Kilauea’s dangerous, difficult, and vital service during World War II was to carry ammunition to ships and bases and to issue it to the users. She began operating 17 June 1941 out of Norfolk, serving combatants on the east coast, in the Caribbean, and building up the base at NS Argentia, Newfoundland. Aside from necessary overhaul, and a period as station ammunition ship in the Norfolk area October 1942‑January 1943, she continued American theater duty into 1943.
Kilauea was renamed Mount Baker 17 March 1943 to avoid confusion with a similarly named ship. On 8 June, she sailed with ammunition for the
Mount Baker departed Ulithi 3 June for overhaul at
1951-1954 (Korean War)
With the rapid expansion of the fleet required by the
On 12 January 1953, Mount Baker sortied from San Francisco with a cruiser‑destroyer force for the largest, to that time, postwar training operation in the Pacific. Early in February she sailed for
1955-1969 (Far East, Vietnam)
In 1955, and almost every year thereafter, Mount Baker made similar deployments to the Far East, usually of 8 months duration. Stateside periods between were given to necessary overhaul and training, as well as providing training in underway replenishment to other ships of the fleet. When she left San Diego 28 October 1964, she was bound for duty replenishing 7th Fleet ships operating off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. She also brought ammunition to ships of the Taiwan patrol and bases in Japan and the Philippines during this and her other recent deployments.
Returning to
Mount Baker was struck from the Naval Register on 2 December 1969 and transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal, she was scrapped in 1974.[3]
Honours and awards
Mount Baker received four
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery at navsource.org