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USNS Pomeroy (T-AKR 316)

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USNS POMEROY is the seventh WATSON - class large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship (LMSR) and the first ship in the Navy named after Pfc. Pomeroy.

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Crew List:

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

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About the Ship's Name:

USNS POMEROY is named in honor of Pfc. Pomeroy who was born on March 26, 1930, in Quinwood, West Virginia. He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions Oct. 15, 1952, near Kumbwa, Korea. While Pomeroy's platoon attempted to hold key ground, Pomeroy manned a machine gun at the end of a trench to protect the platoon's flank from a surprise attack. Enemy forces attacked through a ravine leading directly to Pomeroy. Pomeroy began firing on the enemy, inflicting heavy casualties, so the attacking force concentrated their fire on Pomeroy's position. Despite intense enemy fire, Pomeroy continued to shoot until he was severely wounded and his gun mount was inoperable. At this point, he picked up the hot, heavy gun and charged the enemy, firing until he ran out of ammunition. He then used the gun as a club to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until he was mortally wounded. Pomeroy's brave actions cost him his life but enabled his platoon to hold their position.

Citation:

Pfc. Pomeroy, a machine gunner with Company E, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. While his comrades were consolidating on a key terrain feature, he manned a machinegun at the end of a communication trench on the forward slope to protect the platoon flank and prevent a surprise attack. When the enemy attacked through a ravine leading directly to his firing position, he immediately opened fire on the advancing troops inflicting a heavy toll in casualties and blunting the assault. At this juncture the enemy directed intense concentrations of artillery and mortar fire on his position in an attempt to neutralize his gun. Despite withering fire and bursting shells, he maintained his heroic stand and poured crippling fire into the ranks of the hostile force until a mortar burst severely wounded him and rendered the gun mount inoperable. Quickly removing the hot, heavy weapon, he cradled it in his arms and, moving forward with grim determination, raked the attacking forces with a hail of fire. Although wounded a second time he pursued his relentless course until his ammunition was expended within 10 feet of the foe and then, using the machinegun as a club, he courageously closed with the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until mortally wounded. Pfc. Pomeroy's consummate valor, inspirational actions and supreme sacrifice enabled the platoon to contain the attack and maintain the integrity of the perimeter, reflecting lasting glory upon himself and upholding the noble traditions of the military service.

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USNS POMEROY History:

USNS POMEROY is a Military Sealift Command large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off (LMSR) ship built at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) yard in San Diego, California, to move (and, in peacetime, keep forward-staged) large sets of U.S. Army equipment and sustainment stocks. The ship's construction milestones in publicly available records begin with the keel-laying on April 25, 2000, followed by christening on March 10, 2001, and launch on March 24, 2001. POMEROY was delivered to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command on August 14, 2001, entering service as a government-owned, civilian-crewed sealift vessel. From the outset, POMEROY was tied to the Army's afloat prepositioning concept - keeping major equipment sets positioned forward so they can be issued rapidly in a crisis rather than shipped from the continental United States after a decision is made - an approach that gained additional urgency in the early 2000s as U.S. operational demands increased across Southwest Asia.

As a roll-on/roll-off ship, POMEROY's operational "signature" has been large-scale onload and offload evolutions rather than highly publicized named operations. The ship's cargo spaces and internal ramps are designed for heavy vehicles and outsized military loads, and contemporaneous public descriptions emphasize that POMEROY is capable of embarking the vehicles and supporting equipment of large Army formations, with deck and securing arrangements intended for a very high count of wheeled and tracked vehicles. This capability aligns with the ship's recurring assignment to Army Prepositioned Stocks (APS), where vessels cycle through maintenance periods and cargo refresh while preserving a forward presence.

By February 2008, reporting on the ship's activities described POMEROY beginning another operational period associated with Maritime Prepositioning Ships Squadron 3, after having conducted repeated runs connected with Kuwait in prior years. In that same timeframe, the ship's documented port sequence included cargo work in Charleston, South Carolina, then calls in the Republic of Korea (including Busan and Gwangyang), a stop in Japan (Sasebo), and subsequent cargo movement connected with Okinawa - an itinerary reflecting how APS ships reposition, exchange, or refresh stocks across multiple logistics nodes in the Indo-Pacific.

A clearly dated U.S. port event followed on November 30, 2009, when POMEROY arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, and on December 4, 2009, the ship completed an offload there. Those dates sit within a broader pattern: Charleston has repeatedly served as a key interface between afloat prepositioning ships and Army sustainment organizations responsible for managing, refurbishing, and reissuing prepositioned equipment sets.

On July 7, 2011, POMEROY was among the vessels recognized at a Washington, D.C., ceremony associated with the Chief of Naval Operations' afloat safety awards, reflecting the safety-management side of MSC's mission where ships often operate with small crews yet handle complex industrial evolutions during port cargo operations. On January 16, 2013, Joint Base Charleston leadership conducted a visit aboard POMEROY at Joint Base Charleston - Weapons Station, another dated indicator of the ship's presence in that same strategic logistics hub.

In January 2014, POMEROY was again documented at Joint Base Charleston - Weapons Station during a series of cargo movements. On January 7, 2014, vehicles rolled ashore from POMEROY during shipyard/port activity there, and on January 10, 2014, the ship was specifically documented docked at Wharf Alpha at the Weapons Station during ongoing cargo operations. After that winter evolution, another major cargo event is documented on May 12, 2014, when POMEROY conducted an onload operation at Joint Base Charleston - Weapons Station - part of the recurring APS cycle in which equipment is loaded, staged forward, periodically discharged for maintenance or redistribution, and then reloaded.

MSC's own published year-in-review reporting later placed POMEROY at the Diego Garcia prepositioning site in the Indian Ocean as a continuing centerpiece of the APS rotation. In December 2014, that same reporting notes USNS WATKINS (T-AKR 315) backloaded sustainment supplies and joined POMEROY at Diego Garcia, illustrating how multiple WATSON-class LMSRs are managed as a coordinated set - ships cycling between forward station, cargo maintenance periods, and regulatory docking requirements while maintaining the overall readiness posture of the APS fleet.

During Fiscal Year 2019 (October 1, 2018-September 30, 2019), MSC's public reporting states that operational requirements continued to drive APS vessel schedules and that POMEROY returned to the United States for cargo maintenance and then an FY 2019 regulatory dry-docking (noted as occurring later than originally scheduled). During Fiscal Year 2020 (October 1, 2019-September 30, 2020), the same MSC reporting line places POMEROY, together with USNS WATSON (T-AKR 310), continuing to support the Army prepositioning mission from Diego Garcia.

In 2022, POMEROY's activities become more visible again through MSC's own annual reporting tied to joint logistics training. That reporting states that in April 2022, POMEROY returned to the continental United States for cargo discharge and a regulatory overhaul, and that in June 2022 POMEROY participated in U.S. Transportation Command's Exercise Turbo Distribution. In that exercise, POMEROY served as a training platform for Army and joint port-opening and seaport-debarkation organizations including the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command's 832nd Transportation Battalion, 597th Transportation Brigade, the 690th Rapid Port Opening Element, along with various Navy units and contracted personnel - an example of how LMSR ships support not only contingency lift and prepositioning, but also the practical rehearsal of "getting cargo off the ship and flowing inland" under realistic conditions.

In March 2023, contemporaneous documentation again places POMEROY in Charleston during preparations for cargo operations, consistent with another APS loading cycle. MSC's 2023 year-in-review summary further describes POMEROY completing a regulatory overhaul in March and then loading Army prepositioning equipment and deploying to South Korea - an Indo-Pacific employment consistent with the long-standing role of APS ships in supporting rapid reinforcement and sustainment options for U.S. and allied requirements in the region.

On January 18, 2024, POMEROY is specifically documented at Pier 8 in Busan, Republic of Korea, during a visit involving Military Sealift Command Office Korea personnel and senior combined leadership, reflecting the ship's presence and relevance within the U.S.-Republic of Korea logistics and readiness architecture. In September 2025, U.S. naval reporting on planned force-structure actions identified POMEROY as scheduled to be removed from active service on April 1, 2026. This would mark the end of POMEROY's active MSC career after nearly a quarter-century and her move to the Maritime Administration for further reserve duty.

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USNS POMEROY Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by Stefan Karpinski and shows the POMEROY being escorted through Bab El Mandeb by the German frigate MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN (F 218) during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003.

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