View source for USNS Ponchatoula (T-AO-148)

{{short description|Oiler of the United States Navy}}
{{other ships|USS Ponchatoula}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= [[Image:USNS Ponchatoula T-AO 148.jpg|300px|USNS Ponchatoula (T-AO-148) at sea]]
|Ship caption=USNS ''Ponchatoula'' (T-AO-148) at sea
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1970}}
|Ship name=USS ''Ponchatoula''
|Ship namesake=[[Ponchatoula Creek]]
|Ship ordered=28 January 1952
|Ship builder=[[New York Shipbuilding]], [[Camden, New Jersey]]
|Ship laid down=1 March 1954
|Ship launched=9 July 1955
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=12 January 1956
|Ship decommissioned=5 September 1980
|Ship in service=1980
|Ship out of service 1 April 1992
|Ship struck= 31 August 1992
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship identification= *{{IMO Number|7737092}}
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honors= 12 [[campaign star]]s (Vietnam)
|Ship fate= Scrapped 
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class= {{sclass|Neosho|oiler||ship}}
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|11600|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} light
*{{convert|38000|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full
|Ship length= {{convert|655|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|86|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft= {{convert|35|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth=
|Ship propulsion=*2 geared turbines
*2 boilers
*2 shafts
*{{convert|28000|shp|MW|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship speed= {{convert|20|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship capacity={{convert|180000|oilbbl|m3|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=*''USS'' : 324
*''USNS'' : 106 Civilian mariners, 21 Navy
|Ship armament=*2 × single [[5"/38 caliber gun|5"/38 caliber]] [[dual purpose gun]]s
*6 × twin [[3"/50 caliber gun|3"/50 caliber]] [[dual purpose gun]]s 
|Ship armor=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Ponchatoula'' (AO-148)''' was one of six [[USS Neosho (AO-143)|''Neosho''-class]] [[Oiler (ship)|fleet oilers]] built for the [[United States Navy]], in service from 1956 to 1992, and named for the [[Ponchatoula Creek]] which rises in [[Tangipahoa Parish]], [[Louisiana]], and flows into the [[Natalbany River]], west of [[Ponchatoula, Louisiana]]. She was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

''Ponchatoula'' was laid down at the [[New York Shipbuilding]] Corporation, [[Camden, New Jersey]], on 1 March 1954, launched on 9 July 1955, sponsored by Mrs. I. N. Kiland, and commissioned on 12 January 1956.

==Service history==
After fitting out at [[Philadelphia]], ''Ponchatoula'', the sixth of a class designed to combine speed and large cargo capacity for rapid [[underway replenishment]] over extended operational periods, got underway for the [[Pacific]]. Arriving at [[Long Beach, California]], on 10 March, she underwent shakedown and training exercises off the [[California]] coast and in September deployed to the [[Far East]]. En route she assisted ''SS Venus'', a [[Panama]]nian merchantman lying helpless on the fringes of two [[typhoon]]s. Taking ''Venus'' in tow on the 26th, ''Ponchatoula'' was relieved of her tow on the 28th, and continued on to [[United States Fleet Activities Sasebo|Sasebo]] to join the [[United States Seventh Fleet|7th Fleet]].
 
Rotated regularly to the western Pacific, ''Ponchatoula'' was homeported at [[Pearl Harbor]] in early 1958 and received her introduction to support under hostile conditions while operating with 7th Fleet units during the [[Second Taiwan Strait Crisis|Quemoy-Matsu Crisis]] in the fall of that year.

Support for experimental operations highlighted 1962 as she provided POL (petroleum, oil, lubricants) services to Joint Task Force 8 engaged in [[Operation Dominic I and II|"Operation Dominic I"]] (the [[Kiritimati|Christmas Island]] [[List of nuclear tests|nuclear test series]]), then operated with [[Project Mercury]] recovery ships during the ''[[Mercury-Atlas 8|Sigma 7]]'' splashdown. Repeating that support with ''[[Mercury-Atlas 9|Faith 7]]'' in 1963, she shifted to combat operations in October 1964 and deployed to the [[South China Sea]] to refuel ships employ the coast of [[Vietnam]]. After 279 refuelings, she returned to [[Hawaii]]an waters. In June 1965 she participated in recovery operations for ''[[Gemini 4]]'', then deployed again to Vietnam. In December she interrupted operations there to support the recovery ships for ''[[Gemini 6]]'' and ''[[Gemini 7]]'' and in April 1966 returned to Hawaii after having set a new record in the Pacific Fleet by bringing 503 ships alongside, 464 of which she refueled. Deployed to WestPac again in November 1967, she pumped over {{convert|74|e6USgal|m3}} of fuel through her hoses before returning home in June 1968. In October she again joined ships in the Pacific splashdown area, this time to recover ''[[Apollo 7]]'', the first U.S. three-man flight.

[[File:USS Ponchatoula AO-148 USS Blue Ridge LCC-19 1991.jpeg|thumb|left|USNS ''Ponchatoula'' in 1991.]]
By 8 December, ''Ponchatoula'' was back in the [[Philippines]], whence she got underway for "[[Yankee Station]]" in the [[Gulf of Tonkin]] on the 15th again to replenish ships operating in support of Allied operations in Vietnam. ''Ponchatoula'' earned twelve [[battle star]]s for [[Vietnam War]] service. In July 1969, she returned home and into 1970 remained in Hawaiian waters.

In 1972 she refueled [[USS Berkeley (DDG-15)|USS ''Berkeley'' (DDG 15)]] home bound from the [[Vietnam War]].

Decommissioned on 5 September 1980 (Captain Jack C. Presley), ''Ponchatoula'' was placed in service with the [[Military Sealift Command]] (MSC) as '''USNS ''Ponchatoula'' (T-AO-148)''' where she served with the Seventh Fleet in the Persian Gulf during [[Operation Fiery Vigil]], [[Operation Desert Shield]] and [[Operation Desert Storm]].  She was badly damaged in a collision with the guided missile cruiser ''USS Chancellorsville (CG62)'' in August 1991.  The ''Chancellorsville'' suffered a steering casualty during underway replenishment operations and heeled sharply to port, ramming the ''Ponchatoula's'' starboard side at the Bridge, then sliding down the starboard side of the ship, buckling the upper deck plates of the ''Ponchatoula'' to the engine house and damaging the ''Chancellorsville's'' hurricane bow and sonar dome.  ''Ponchatoula'' was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] on 31 August 1992; her title was transferred to [[MARAD]] on 1 May 1999 for lay-up in the [[National Defense Reserve Fleet]], [[Suisun Bay]], [[Benicia, California]]. MARAD listed ''Ponchatoula'' still at Suisun Bay in February 2007.  She was towed from Suisun Bay on June 5, 2014 to be dismantled in Brownsville, Texas.  Her final voyage is chronicled at '''''http://navy.memorieshop.com/Ponchatoula/Last-Voyage.html'''''.

[[File:USS Ponchatoula (AO-148).jpg|thumb|right]]

==References==
{{DANFS}}
* {{cite web|title=''Ponchatoula''|work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p9/ponchatoula-ii.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212213039/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p9/ponchatoula-ii.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 12, 2012|access-date=January 2, 2007}}
* {{cite web|title=AO-148 ''Ponchatoula''|work=Fleet Oiler (AO) Photo Index|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/09/19/19148.htm|access-date=January 2, 2007}}
*{{cite book
| last = Wildenberg
| first = Thomas
| year = 1996
| url = http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/GSBO/index.html
| title = Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912-1995
| location = Annapolis, Maryland
| publisher = Naval Institute Press
| access-date = 2009-04-28
}}

{{Neosho class fleet replenishment oiler}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponchatoula (Ao-148)}}
[[Category:1955 ships]]
[[Category:Neosho-class oilers]]
[[Category:Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation]]