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USS Suribachi (AE 21)

USS SURIBACHI was the lead ship of the SURIBACHI - class of Ammunition Ships. She was named for Mount Suribachi, the volcanic cone at the southern end of Iwo Jima. The beaches near the mountain were among the landing areas used by United States Marines when the Battle of Iwo Jima began on February 19, 1945, and the summit became the site of the American flag raising photographed by Joe Rosenthal on February 23. Commissioned in November 1956, USS SURIBACHI was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, frequently deploying to the Mediterranean to provide ammunition and other supplies to ships operating there. She decommissioned in December 1994 and was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register two years later on December 12, 1996. SURIBACHI was subsequently laid up as part of the James River Reserve Fleet at Fort Eustis, VA, awaiting final disposal. In June 2009, the Maritime Administration awarded the former ammunition ship to International Shipbreaking Ltd. of Brownsville, Texas, for recycling. The transaction was valued at $20,001. MARAD subsequently recorded her removal from the James River Reserve Fleet on July 17, 2009. Dismantling at Brownsville was completed on December 4, 2009.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS SURIBACHI. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS SURIBACHI Cruise Books:

• Mediterranean Cruise Book 1968
• Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Cruise Book 1982-83
• Mediterranean Cruise Book 1992

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USS SURIBACHI History:

USS SURIBACHI was laid down on January 31, 1955, at Sparrows Point, Maryland, by Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc. She was launched on November 2, 1955, sponsored by Mrs. Lemuel C. Shepherd, wife of General Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr., former Commandant of the Marine Corps, and commissioned on November 17, 1956, with Captain Brooks J. Harral in command. Between commissioning and August 1957, SURIBACHI completed fitting-out work, shakedown training and exercises in Atlantic and Caribbean waters, including training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The first year was devoted principally to developing the ship's specialized ammunition-handling procedures and qualifying her crew in the demanding shiphandling required when an ammunition ship and a receiving combatant steamed alongside one another at close distance.

In September and October 1957, SURIBACHI participated in three NATO exercises, Seaspray, Strikeback and Pipedown. During these operations, she served as flagship for the Underway Replenishment Group. Exercise Strikeback was one of the major NATO naval exercises of the period and involved extensive allied operations in the North Atlantic and adjacent waters. For SURIBACHI, the exercises demonstrated the logistical system required to sustain carrier, cruiser and destroyer forces during prolonged operations far from their home bases.

During 1958, SURIBACHI operated principally along the East Coast and in the Caribbean. Her schedule included a shipyard overhaul followed by further training at Guantanamo Bay. In November 1958, she departed on an unusually long assignment with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Her principal responsibility was to maintain the ammunition inventories of deployed United States naval forces through repeated underway-replenishment operations.

The Mediterranean remained one of the most important naval theaters of the Cold War. The United States maintained a permanent Sixth Fleet presence there while Soviet political and military activity in the region steadily increased. SURIBACHI's long assignment extended through 1959 and into 1960. In June 1959, she temporarily served as flagship for Service Squadron 2 during Operation Lantflex, after which she resumed her regular logistics duties. SURIBACHI finally completed this extended Mediterranean assignment in May 1960.

After returning to the United States, SURIBACHI resumed Atlantic Fleet training, maintenance and ammunition-support operations. She returned to the Mediterranean in February 1961 and remained with the Sixth Fleet until August. Her work consisted principally of transporting ammunition to the forward area and transferring it to carriers and surface ships while they were underway.

Another Mediterranean deployment began in August 1962. SURIBACHI sailed as part of the large Atlantic Fleet movement toward the Sixth Fleet operating area that also included USS FORRESTAL (CVA 59). The crossing occurred during a period of continuing confrontation between NATO and the Soviet Union, and Soviet long-range reconnaissance aircraft monitored American carrier movements across the Atlantic. SURIBACHI remained overseas into the spring of 1963.

After returning from the 1962-1963 deployment, SURIBACHI entered Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Baltimore, Maryland, for a major conversion. She was placed in commission, in reserve while work proceeded. The principal objective was installation of the Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer system, generally known as FAST, which was intended to increase the speed and efficiency with which ammunition could be transferred between ships during underway replenishment. The conversion represented a substantial modernization of SURIBACHI's original cargo-handling arrangements. In addition to the FAST installations, a helicopter platform was added to the fantail. The new facility enabled ammunition and other cargo to be moved by helicopter in vertical replenishment operations, or VERTREP. Helicopter transfer allowed an ammunition ship to service vessels that were not immediately alongside and permitted several receiving ships to be supplied in relatively rapid succession.

The modernization occupied more than two years. SURIBACHI returned to full commission at Norfolk, Virginia, on December 15, 1965. Fitting-out and preparations continued until early February 1966, after which she sailed to the Caribbean for approximately five weeks of shakedown training centered on Guantanamo Bay.

From mid-March until mid-April 1966, SURIBACHI operated off Mayport, Florida, with USS DEWEY (DLG 14) during operational evaluation of the newly installed FAST equipment. The trials subjected the system to actual underway conditions and tested both the equipment and the procedures required to transfer ammunition safely and rapidly between moving ships. After completion of the evaluation, SURIBACHI returned to the normal Atlantic Fleet operating cycle.

Beginning in June 1966, she resumed Sixth Fleet duty. Between June 1966 and June 1972, SURIBACHI completed four additional Mediterranean cruises, alternating the overseas deployments with maintenance, ammunition handling, exercises and training along the East Coast and in the Caribbean. During much of this period Mayport served as her operating base.

A cruise record documents SURIBACHI's 1967 operations. By this period, the Soviet Navy was becoming increasingly active in Mediterranean waters, and the Sixth Fleet maintained carrier and surface groups throughout the region. SURIBACHI regularly moved between logistics locations and operating forces, replenishing ships with ammunition while they remained at sea. During 1968, SURIBACHI was photographed conducting a multiple-ship replenishment in the Mediterranean with USS SHANGRI-LA (CVA 38) and USS ZELLARS (DD 777). SURIBACHI steamed between the receiving ships while replenishment equipment was rigged, illustrating the ability of an ammunition ship to support more than one combatant during a coordinated logistics evolution.

Another well-documented sequence occurred during the 1969-1970 Mediterranean deployment cycle. USS LITTLE ROCK (CLG 4), the Sixth Fleet flagship, received ammunition from SURIBACHI while operating in the Mediterranean. After departing for Exercise National Week V on January 30, 1970, USS LITTLE ROCK again rearmed from SURIBACHI in the Ionian Sea on February 2. National Week V began the following day and involved coordinated Sixth Fleet air, surface and antisubmarine operations.

SURIBACHI remained the principal Sixth Fleet ammunition ship into June 1970. USS BUTTE (AE 27), making her first Mediterranean deployment, reached Rota, Spain, on June 7 and formally relieved SURIBACHI on June 8. USS BUTTE then assumed responsibility for rearming Sixth Fleet units, while SURIBACHI began the homeward phase of her deployment.

SURIBACHI continued the Atlantic-Mediterranean deployment cycle during 1971 and the first half of 1972. Her operations included routine ammunition transfers, exercises, upkeep periods and visits required to maintain the Sixth Fleet logistics network. These were the final months of her exclusively Atlantic-oriented operating pattern before she received orders for an unusually distant deployment. On June 16, 1972, SURIBACHI passed through the Panama Canal, transferring from the Atlantic to the Pacific for service during the final major phase of United States combat operations in the Vietnam War. She reached Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on June 26. Following an overnight stop, she continued westward toward Southeast Asia.

The timing placed SURIBACHI in the Western Pacific during an exceptionally intensive period of naval aviation operations. North Vietnam's Easter Offensive had begun in March 1972, and the United States responded with renewed large-scale air and naval activity, including Operation Linebacker and the mining of major North Vietnamese ports. Seventh Fleet aircraft carriers flying combat missions required large and continuing quantities of bombs, missiles and other aviation ordnance.

SURIBACHI reached the operating area in mid-July 1972 and became part of the mobile logistics system sustaining Seventh Fleet combat forces. From mid-July through February 8, 1973, she repeatedly supplied ships operating off Vietnam. The work involved receiving ammunition through forward logistics facilities and carrying it back to operating units, where the ordnance was transferred by connected replenishment or helicopter. Subic Bay in the Philippines served as SURIBACHI's principal forward logistics port during the deployment. The ship generally spent extended periods supporting naval forces at sea and returned to port only for relatively short replenishment, upkeep and crew-rest periods. In addition to repeated Subic Bay visits, her deployment included a documented visit to Hong Kong and another to Sattahip, Thailand.

During the latter half of 1972, United States carrier aircraft continued intensive operations against North Vietnam. SURIBACHI's function was entirely logistical, but the tempo of carrier aviation made regular ammunition replenishment an important part of sustaining those operations. The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973, bringing direct United States combat operations against North Vietnam toward an end. SURIBACHI continued supporting Seventh Fleet forces until February 8, when she entered Subic Bay. On February 16, she departed the Philippines for Yokosuka, Japan, beginning the return journey.

After visiting Yokosuka, SURIBACHI continued east across the Pacific and called at Pearl Harbor. She subsequently passed through the Panama Canal in mid-March 1973 and rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. Her 1972-1973 deployment to Southeast Asia was the principal Vietnam combat-zone assignment of her career. Following her return, SURIBACHI resumed East Coast operations, training and maintenance. In January 1974, she departed on another Mediterranean deployment and remained overseas until June. The deployment came only a few months after the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, which had produced a major concentration of American and Soviet naval forces in the Mediterranean and temporarily raised Cold War tensions in the region. SURIBACHI again provided ammunition logistics for Sixth Fleet ships.

Another Mediterranean cruise followed in 1975. USS BUTTE, which had been serving as the Sixth Fleet ammunition ship, returned to Rota on June 20, 1975, and turned over her responsibilities to SURIBACHI before departing for the United States on June 22. SURIBACHI thereafter assumed the forward ammunition-support mission for Sixth Fleet forces.

Through 1976 SURIBACHI continued the established cycle of Mediterranean deployments, Caribbean operations and periods of maintenance and training. By December 1976, she was assigned at Naval Weapons Station Earle, New Jersey. The extensive ammunition-storage complex and long weapons pier at Earle provided a suitable base for an Atlantic Fleet ammunition ship and remained closely associated with SURIBACHI during the later part of her career.

A major ammunition evolution occurred on September 6, 1977, when USS FORRESTAL conducted an underway replenishment with SURIBACHI. The carrier took aboard more than 900 tons of live ammunition, the first live ordnance it had loaded in more than a year. The evolution formed part of USS FORRESTAL's return to full operational status following an extended period of maintenance and training.

During the closing years of the 1970s, SURIBACHI remained in active Atlantic Fleet service from the Earle logistics system, alternating ammunition loading and unloading, training and maintenance with overseas fleet-support work. The same basic operating pattern continued into the opening years of the 1980s. SURIBACHI remained responsible for supplying ammunition to Atlantic Fleet forces and continued operating in Mediterranean and Caribbean waters. Improvements in standardized replenishment equipment and helicopter procedures altered the techniques used to move cargo, but not the ship's fundamental task.

A cruise book documents SURIBACHI's operations during 1983, a year in which a routine Atlantic Fleet schedule was interrupted by a Caribbean contingency. Political instability in Grenada culminated in the overthrow and killing of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop in October 1983. The United States and several Caribbean governments subsequently organized the military intervention designated Operation Urgent Fury. SURIBACHI became part of the naval force assembled for the operation. The carrier force included USS INDEPENDENCE (CV 62), USS RICHMOND K. TURNER (CG 20), USS COONTZ (DDG 40), USS CARON (DD 970), USS MOOSBRUGGER (DD 980) and USS CLIFTON SPRAGUE (FFG 16), together with amphibious and support units.

Operation Urgent Fury began on October 25, 1983. Carrier aircraft, surface combatants, amphibious ships and ground forces supported the intervention and subsequent security operations on Grenada. Official Navy participation records credit SURIBACHI with qualifying service during the Urgent Fury period from October 23 through November 21. Her service during the operation qualified the ship for the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.

Following the Caribbean operation, SURIBACHI resumed Atlantic Fleet and overseas logistics duties. Her 1984 activities again included support of carrier and surface forces moving between the Mediterranean and Atlantic. On October 11, 1984, USS SAMUEL ELIOT MORISON (FFG 13) rendezvoused at Rota with a group that included USS SARATOGA (CV 60), USS CALOOSAHATCHEE (AO 98) and SURIBACHI. The ships departed Rota that afternoon for the westward Atlantic crossing.

SURIBACHI continued Mediterranean, Atlantic and Caribbean operations through the middle years of the decade. Her award record includes qualifying expeditionary service connected with the Libya contingency during the period of increased United States-Libyan tension. American carrier forces conducted a succession of operations in and around the Gulf of Sidra during the mid-1980s.

A precisely documented replenishment occurred on June 16, 1987. USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69), emerging from a major overhaul, conducted its first underway replenishment of its new operating period with SURIBACHI in the Virginia Capes operating area. The evolution formed part of the carrier's return to fleet operations and preparations for Shakedown '87.

SURIBACHI remained active through 1988 and 1989, supporting Atlantic Fleet training and carrier qualifications while continuing the maintenance necessary for a ship already more than three decades old. On December 9, 1989, SURIBACHI participated in a historically significant replenishment for the newly commissioned USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72). During sea trials and carrier qualification operations, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN conducted its first-ever vertical replenishment with SURIBACHI. CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters moved 250 loads between the ships. The operation formed part of the new carrier's initial certification and training period before it entered regular fleet service.

Less than a year later, SURIBACHI was committed to the initial American response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Iraqi forces crossed into Kuwait on August 2, 1990, and the United States began Operation Desert Shield to defend Saudi Arabia and establish a large multinational military presence in Southwest Asia. On August 8, 1990, SURIBACHI transited the Suez Canal en route to the Persian Gulf area in support of Operation Desert Shield. At this early stage of the crisis, USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER and its associated force moved toward the Red Sea, while other United States naval forces approached the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf. Units associated with the Red Sea force included USS TICONDEROGA (CG 47), USS JOHN L. HALL (FFG 32) and USNS NEOSHO (T-AO 143). SURIBACHI provided the ammunition component of the mobile logistics support available to the deployed force.

The official ship-participation chronology establishes SURIBACHI's qualifying presence in the Desert Shield theater from August 8 through August 22, 1990. Her documented involvement therefore belongs to the initial buildup following the Iraqi invasion. After the initial Desert Shield assignment, SURIBACHI returned to the Atlantic Fleet logistics cycle. She continued operating as an ammunition ship while the Navy entered the post-Cold War period and began reducing the size of the fleet.

A cruise book documents another SURIBACHI Mediterranean cruise in 1992. The deployment continued her longstanding Sixth Fleet support mission at a time when the strategic environment in the Mediterranean was changing rapidly after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Yugoslavia. A serious aviation accident occurred later that year. In September 1992, SURIBACHI was conducting an ammunition-transfer evolution with USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER off the Virginia coast. A Navy UH-46D Sea Knight helicopter carrying ammunition from the carrier toward SURIBACHI suffered a mechanical failure and crashed onto the ammunition ship's fantail. One member of the helicopter crew was injured.

SURIBACHI remained in active service and continued Atlantic Fleet ammunition duties during 1993 and 1994. By then, she was one of the Navy's oldest active fleet auxiliaries. Her steam propulsion plant, manpower requirements and specialized role were increasingly being weighed against newer logistics ships at a time when the United States Navy was reducing force levels after the Cold War.

On December 2, 1994, SURIBACHI was decommissioned after slightly more than 38 years of commissioned service. She was retained in inactive status rather than immediately disposed of. On December 12, 1996, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. The former ammunition ship subsequently entered the Maritime Administration reserve-fleet system and was held at the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia. On March 31, 2000, the Maritime Administration formally accepted title to SURIBACHI from the Navy for disposal. The transfer became effective for accounting purposes on April 1, when she ceased to be held by MARAD in reimbursable custody for the Navy.

SURIBACHI remained at the James River Reserve Fleet for a further nine years. In June 2009, the Maritime Administration awarded the former ammunition ship to International Shipbreaking Ltd. of Brownsville, Texas, for recycling. The transaction was valued at $20,001. MARAD subsequently recorded her removal from the James River Reserve Fleet on July 17, 2009. Dismantling at Brownsville was completed on December 4, 2009.

USS SURIBACHI's award records list two Meritorious Unit Commendations and two Navy Battle Efficiency "E" awards among her unit distinctions. Her campaign and expeditionary recognition included the National Defense Service Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal recognition associated with Grenada and Libya, the Vietnam Service Medal with campaign credit, the Southwest Asia Service Medal and the Kuwait Liberation Medal awarded by Kuwait.

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