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USNS Navasota (T-AO 106)

contributed by Pat Doyle, last CHENG of USS Navasota

USNS NAVASOTA originally was a MARAD standard type T3-S2-A3 oiler. She received a "jumboization" conversion in the mid-1960s. Commissioned in 1946, the NAVASOTA was the first ship in the Navy named after the river in Texas. Transfered to the Military Sealift Command in 1975, the NAVASOTA was eventually deactivated in 1991. The ship was sold for scrapping on October 25, 1995.

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Crew List:

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

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• Click here to see which USNS NAVASOTA memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS NAVASOTA Cruise Books:

• WestPac Cruise Book 1962

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USS / USNS NAVASOTA History:

USS NAVASOTA was a CIMARRON-class fleet oiler built for the United States Navy during the final months of World War II. She was the only U.S. Navy ship named for the Navasota River in eastern Texas. Constructed as a Maritime Commission type T3-S2-A3 tanker, Maritime Commission hull 2702, she was laid down by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Chester, Pennsylvania, on February 22, 1945. She was launched on August 30, 1945, after Japan had announced its acceptance of the Allied surrender terms, sponsored by Mrs. A. Hahn, and commissioned on February 27, 1946, with Commander David H. McCluskey, USNR, in command. Her commissioning came after the end of the war for which she had been ordered, but the Navy still required large fleet tankers to supply ships dispersed across the Pacific during the occupation of Japan and the transition to postwar operations.

Following commissioning, NAVASOTA spent approximately three months conducting shakedown and training on the Atlantic coast. She then passed through the Panama Canal, proceeded to Pearl Harbor and joined Service Force, Pacific Fleet. On July 3, 1946, she departed Pearl Harbor on an assignment to obtain petroleum products from the Persian Gulf for distribution to the Pacific Fleet. She subsequently reached Japanese waters and departed Yokosuka on August 20, arriving at San Pedro, California, on September 2.

On January 30, 1948, NAVASOTA began another western Pacific deployment. Between April and June she served as a station tanker at Tsingtao, China, supplying American naval ships operating in the area. Tsingtao was an important United States naval support point at a time when fighting in the Chinese Civil War was intensifying. After completing the assignment, NAVASOTA returned to San Pedro on July 7 and subsequently proceeded to Pearl Harbor during August. She departed Pearl Harbor again on October 13, bound for the Far East. After reaching Japan, she left Yokosuka on November 20 for another station assignment at Tsingtao. She remained there until December 30, when she sailed for California by way of Pearl Harbor. NAVASOTA arrived at Long Beach on January 19, 1949. On February 1, she proceeded to Kodiak, Alaska, and returned to San Francisco on February 25. During the following year she continued operating off the United States Pacific coast.

NAVASOTA departed for the western Pacific on May 1, 1950, before the outbreak of the Korean War. North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel on June 25, and the tanker was assigned to fuel American and allied ships operating in Korean waters. The expanding United Nations naval effort required sustained supplies of fuel for carriers, destroyers, cruisers and supporting vessels conducting air operations, patrols, blockade duties and naval gunfire support. In late August, NAVASOTA visited Keelung, Taiwan, then generally referred to as Formosa. She returned to Korean waters and supported naval operations associated with the landings at Inchon on September 15. Official campaign records place her in qualifying operations during September 15-17 and September 18-29, 1950. A contemporary photograph also documents NAVASOTA refueling the aircraft carrier USS VALLEY FORGE (CV 45) off Korea during the conflict. These services took place as the Inchon landings and the subsequent United Nations advance altered the course of the ground campaign.

NAVASOTA departed the Korean operating area for Pearl Harbor on October 22, 1950, and subsequently proceeded back toward Japan by way of Kwajalein and Guam. Her movements coincided with a changing military situation in Korea following the intervention of Chinese forces. She departed Japan on December 16 and arrived at Long Beach on December 30. The return to California was brief: on March 31, 1951, she again departed for the Far East. During this deployment, she supported ships operating off Wonsan, the North Korean port subjected to a prolonged United Nations naval blockade and bombardment. Her Korean War campaign records include April 4-6 and April 12-21, 1951, followed by April 25-May 2, May 6-10, May 22-June 6 and June 13-19 during the period of the Chinese spring offensive. Further qualifying periods were August 3-12, August 28-September 5 and September 16-25.

During the Korean conflict, NAVASOTA loaded or delivered fuel through the supporting network of Subic Bay in the Philippines, Buckner Bay at Okinawa, ports in Japan, the Pescadores Islands, Taiwan and Korean waters. She returned to Long Beach for an overhaul beginning in October 1951, with the shipyard period continuing until February 1952. After completing maintenance and operating off the California coast, she departed on April 3, 1952, for Sasebo, Japan, to resume fuel deliveries to ships operating off Korea. For approximately seven months she worked in waters associated with Wonsan and Songjin on the North Korean east coast. Her documented campaign periods included April 24-30, May 1-9, May 15-29, June 12-26, July 7-16, September 9-20 and September 29-October 12, 1952. NAVASOTA arrived back at Long Beach on November 13.

On February 2, 1953, NAVASOTA sailed to Pearl Harbor to participate in Mercantile Convoy Exercise RES 53B, which practiced procedures for protecting merchant shipping. She subsequently continued to Japan and arrived at Sasebo on February 26, beginning another extended period of support for naval forces in the Korean theater. Recorded campaign service during that deployment included March 10-18, April 1-9, April 25-30, May 1-2, May 17-26 and July 25-27, 1953. She also operated as a station tanker at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, supplying ships assigned to the Formosa Strait Patrol. The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27, 1953, but the United States continued its naval presence off Korea and in the Taiwan Strait. NAVASOTA departed the Far East for Long Beach on September 3. During her Korean War operations she ultimately earned nine battle stars.

Photographic records identify several individual replenishments during this period. On May 25, 1953, NAVASOTA was photographed from USS BOXER (CVA 21) as the aircraft carrier approached to receive aviation gasoline. In 1954, photographs taken off San Diego show the tanker supplying aviation fuel to USS PHILIPPINE SEA (CVA 47) while also replenishing the attack cargo ship USS ELECTRA (AKA 4) on the other side. The simultaneous operations demonstrated her ability to support ships of different types without each having to undertake a separate fueling evolution. NAVASOTA continued the recurring pattern of western Pacific deployments, maintenance and coastal training during the following decade.

NAVASOTA underwent an overhaul at San Francisco Naval Shipyard during the first months of 1956. A Navy photograph shows her underway on March 15 after this work. During the summer, she supported Operation Redwing, the series of American nuclear weapons tests conducted at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls in the Marshall Islands. Her assignment was to supply fuel to naval vessels connected with the test operations. On October 26, 1957, she replenished the Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS ANZAC (D 59) in the Yellow Sea south of Korea.

Between February and May 1958, NAVASOTA underwent another overhaul at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Her 5-inch gun and smaller antiaircraft weapons were removed, leaving the single 3-inch gun mounts. Later that year, the tanker returned to East Asian waters during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. As the People's Republic of China bombarded Nationalist-held offshore islands, the United States expanded naval activity in the region. NAVASOTA served as a station tanker at Makung in the Pescadores Islands and refueled 174 ships between August and November 1958. A photograph from this deployment shows her replenishing USS LEXINGTON (CVA 16) and USS MARSHALL (DD 676) simultaneously in the eastern Philippine Sea.

In the years that followed, NAVASOTA continued supporting Seventh Fleet operations in the western Pacific as American commitments in East and Southeast Asia evolved. By the time, NAVASOTA completed her fifteenth western Pacific deployment on October 14, 1963, plans had been prepared for a major enlargement intended to increase her cargo capacity and modernize her underway replenishment systems. The Navy selected NAVASOTA and USS WACCAMAW (AO 109) as the first two oilers for this reconstruction program, usually described as jumboization.

NAVASOTA departed on November 14, 1963, for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, where preliminary work was undertaken before she entered Puget Sound Bridge and Drydock Company's Plant No. 2 on Harbor Island in Seattle. She was maintained in the administrative status of in commission, in reserve, from December 2, 1963, until January 22, 1965; consequently, the conversion did not represent an ordinary decommissioning followed by a new commissioning. The central cargo-carrying portion of the tanker was to be replaced by a 394-foot section built at Kawasaki Dockyard in Kobe, Japan. The new midbody had been launched in Japan in August 1963 and was brought to the United States by the Japanese tug DAISHO MARU NO. 1.

Reconstruction began with the separation of the original hull. NAVASOTA's bow was retained and joined to the replacement cargo section; the existing bridge and deckhouse were moved to the new structure by a heavy-lift crane on January 9, 1964. The lift involved a deckhouse weighing approximately 190 tons. The original stern, which contained the propulsion machinery, was subsequently separated from the obsolete central section and joined to the enlarged forward assembly. The conversion also required substantial alterations to the stern, including a new counterbalanced rudder, stern casting and supports, shortened propeller shafts and new stern tubes. Her replenishment machinery received improved kingposts and outriggers, tensioned highlines, electrically and hydraulically operated winches, cargo elevators, larger cargo pipelines, new pumps, double-hose fueling rigs and facilities for helicopter transfers. A 4,500-kilowatt auxiliary diesel generating installation supplied additional power for these systems, while enclosed storage and living accommodations were improved.

The reconstruction cost approximately $15 million. NAVASOTA emerged with an overall length of about 644 feet and a full-load displacement of approximately 33,987 tons, substantially increasing her capacity to transport petroleum products. Photographs document trials in Puget Sound on December 14, 1964, and she left the conversion yard on December 28. Her in-commission reserve status ended on January 22, 1965. During the ensuing months her crew completed upkeep, inspections and training in the modernized replenishment arrangements. The timing of her return to full operations coincided with the rapid expansion of American naval operations in the Vietnam War.

On August 20, 1965, NAVASOTA departed on her sixteenth western Pacific deployment. She arrived at Subic Bay in the Philippines on September 11 and began supplying ships conducting Seventh Fleet operations off Vietnam. The deployment occurred during Operation Rolling Thunder, the sustained American air campaign against North Vietnam that had begun in March. Aircraft carriers operating from Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin required frequent deliveries of aviation fuel, while accompanying surface combatants needed their own fuel supplies. NAVASOTA's credited Vietnam campaign periods began on September 15-24, continued on October 4, 6, 9 and 16-27, November 9-18 and 30-December 8, and December 17-24, 1965. Her qualifying periods during the first part of 1966 included January 6-13, January 26-February 6, February 13-22, March 7-22, March 30-April 5 and April 11-15.

One unusually extended fueling operation took place in November 1965, during the approach of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE (CVAN 65) to the Strait of Malacca on her first Vietnam deployment. According to the account of the carrier's commanding officer, James L. Holloway III, ENTERPRISE came alongside NAVASOTA at about 7 p.m. and remained connected for approximately eleven hours while the ships passed through the strait. The carrier received about 1.3 million U.S. gallons of aviation fuel. The vessels maintained separation of roughly 70 feet while navigating the restricted passage. The precise date of this transfer has not been established in the published account, but the operation is specifically associated with ENTERPRISE's transit toward Vietnam in November 1965.

A fatal aviation accident affected NAVASOTA during this deployment: three members of NAVASOTA's crew were aboard an SH-3A Sea King helicopter engaged in a personnel transfer. On February 5, the helicopter crashed into the South China Sea while returning toward NAVASOTA with fifteen people aboard. Twelve were rescued, but Chief Shipfitter Benard John Sparenberg, Shipfitter First Class Glenn Edward Asmussen and Shipfitter (Metalsmith) Third Class Dan Daily McConnaughhay were not recovered. Their names are recorded by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, and all three remain unaccounted for.

Throughout the deployment NAVASOTA continued to refuel major surface combatants. Photographs document her replenishing USS KITTY HAWK (CVA 63) in the western Pacific and conducting a simultaneous transfer to USS TICONDEROGA (CVA 14) and USS BASILONE (DD 824) off Vietnam, the latter photographed around May 1966. Her replenishment activity was based primarily on the fuel supply facilities at Subic Bay, from which she returned repeatedly to the Gulf of Tonkin and the waters along Vietnam's coast. NAVASOTA arrived back at Long Beach on June 6, 1966, after more than nine months overseas.

NAVASOTA departed again on October 11, 1966, and reached Subic Bay on November 3. During the following months, she supported Seventh Fleet combat operations in the Gulf of Tonkin and along the coasts of North and South Vietnam. Her campaign service included November 30-December 9 and December 30, 1966-January 5, 1967, followed by February 10-20, February 27-March 9, April 7-13, April 19-26 and May 10-18, 1967. She returned to Long Beach during the summer of 1967 for upkeep and west coast operations, including training in the southern California operating areas. These intervals ashore allowed her to undertake maintenance and prepare for further long deployments.

On January 5, 1968, NAVASOTA began another deployment to the western Pacific. Her assignment again involved fuel support for Seventh Fleet ships operating off Vietnam. The deployment coincided with the Tet Offensive, which began at the end of January and produced intense fighting throughout South Vietnam. NAVASOTA's documented campaign periods included January 30-31, March 24-April 1, April 10-22, May 8-17, May 23-June 1, June 10-30 and July 1-6 and 10. She continued the established cycle of supporting ships at sea and returning to logistical bases for additional fuel and maintenance. Her western Pacific operations through 1970 generally occupied six to eight months of a year, with the remaining time spent operating out of Long Beach in support of First Fleet and Fleet Training Group activities off California.

NAVASOTA was again credited with operations off Vietnam in 1969, including April 7-25, May 6-17, May 26-June 8, June 9-10, June 27-July 11 and July 27-29. The service occurred during the beginning of the American policy of Vietnamization, which was intended to transfer increasing responsibility for the war to South Vietnamese forces while U.S. troops began to withdraw. American naval aviation and the surface fleet nonetheless continued operating in strength. Photographs from this year show NAVASOTA at Sasebo, Japan, alongside USS HAMNER (DD 718), and underway off Subic Bay. Sasebo and the Philippine naval base remained important supporting ports for her western Pacific operations.

The tanker continued supporting the Seventh Fleet in 1970. Her documented campaign periods included June 10-20 and June 27-30, July 1-14 and July 29-August 6, August 19-September 5, September 11-12 and 19-27, October 6-14 and 24-November 2, and November 8-12. A photograph taken from USS BAUSELL (DD 845) during 1970 documents NAVASOTA refueling USS AMERICA (CVA 66) on one side and USS DUNCAN (DD 874) on the other in the South China Sea. Such double replenishments reduced the time required for a carrier and its escorts to replenish while operating away from shore facilities.

During another western Pacific deployment in 1971, NAVASOTA's campaign service included September 20-28, October 15-17, October 23-November 5 and November 11-29. A photograph taken in the Gulf of Tonkin in November shows the guided missile cruiser USS OKLAHOMA CITY (CLG 5) approaching NAVASOTA for refueling. Her operations continued into 1972, with campaign credit for December 17, 1971-January 1, 1972, January 9-17 and 26-30, February 6-11 and 16-22, and March 1-29. In February 1972, she was photographed refueling USS CORAL SEA (CVA 43) and USS GEORGE K. MacKENZIE (DD 836) during the carrier's Vietnam deployment.

North Vietnam launched a major conventional offensive against South Vietnam on March 30, 1972. The ensuing American response included intensified naval and air operations, the mining of North Vietnamese ports and Operation Linebacker. NAVASOTA's credited service during this period included March 30-April 8, April 13-19 and 26-28, May 4-16 and May 28-June 2, 1972. The dates establish her participation in the operational theater. She continued supporting aircraft carriers and their escorts with fuel during the period of expanded naval activity.

NAVASOTA entered the final stages of an overhaul at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in San Pedro, California, during the opening weeks of 1973. On January 1, she was moored at Berth 4A. She shifted to the San Pedro fuel pier on January 10, returned to Bethlehem Steel on January 12, went back to the fuel pier on January 17 and returned again to the shipyard on January 18. On January 23, she entered Dry Dock No. 2. She remained in dry dock at the beginning of February, left it on February 5 and returned to Berth 4A. Dock trials followed on February 6, and she shifted to the fuel pier on February 7. NAVASOTA departed for sea trials on February 12, returned on February 14 and shifted to the fuel pier again on February 16. On February 20, she proceeded toward the Seal Beach naval ammunition anchorage and resumed operations in the southern California training area.

The ship conducted further operations off California on February 22, February 27 and February 28, 1973. During the post-overhaul period, she carried out replenishment exercises with USS PYRO (AE 24), USS HANCOCK, USS FRANCIS HAMMOND (DE 1067), USS TICONDEROGA, USS EDSON (DD 946) and USS AGERHOLM (DD 826). Other exercises on March 1 involved USS MATACO (ATF 86), USS EDSON, USS CARPENTER (DD 825) and the United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC WACHUSETT (WHEC 44). These evolutions tested equipment and procedures after the shipyard period. NAVASOTA returned to Long Beach on March 2 and moored at Pier 9, Berth 14. She departed Long Beach for another western Pacific deployment on March 7, shortly after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords and during the withdrawal of American combat forces from South Vietnam.

During the Pacific crossing, NAVASOTA replenished USS CONE (DD 866) on March 10 and USS O'HARE (DD 889) on March 11. She crossed the International Date Line on March 20 and refueled USS ORISKANY (CVA 34) on March 22. On March 29, she entered Subic Bay, mooring at Alava Pier alongside USS PONCHATOULA (AO 148). After PONCHATOULA departed on April 1, NAVASOTA remained at the pier, shifted to the fuel pier on April 6 and sailed on April 7 for another operating period with the fleet.

On April 9, 1973, NAVASOTA conducted replenishment operations involving USS CAMDEN (AOE 2) and USS EPPERSON (DD 719), and received a helicopter from CAMDEN. On April 10, she received a helicopter from USS CORAL SEA and supplied the carrier with fuel. The following day, she replenished USS WILLIAM C. LAWE (DD 763) and USS WORDEN (DLG 18). Another helicopter transfer involving CORAL SEA occurred on April 12. The ability to receive helicopters supplemented NAVASOTA's alongside fueling capability by permitting personnel and small loads to be transferred without bringing ships directly alongside.

On April 15, NAVASOTA carried out a series of underway replenishments with USS WADDELL, USS REASONER (DE 1063), USS NEW ORLEANS (LPH 11), USS OGDEN (LPD 5) and USS DUBUQUE (LPD 8). On April 16, she replenished USS TRIPOLI (LPH 10). These ships represented a combination of guided missile combatants, frigate-type escorts and amphibious warfare vessels. NAVASOTA returned to Subic Bay on April 21, initially mooring at the fuel pier and then alongside USS SHASTA (AE 33) at Alava Pier. She departed again on April 23. On April 26, she replenished USS CONSTELLATION (CVA 64), USS TURNER JOY (DD 951) and USS ALBERT DAVID (DE 1050), and received a helicopter from CONSTELLATION. On April 28, she operated again with CAMDEN, including a helicopter transfer. She returned to Subic Bay on April 30, where she moored at the fuel pier before shifting alongside SHASTA at Alava Pier.

NAVASOTA remained at Subic Bay on May 1, 1973, and departed for further fleet operations on May 5. Throughout the following months, she continued supporting vessels in the western Pacific and Gulf of Tonkin. Although the Paris Peace Accords had led to the withdrawal of American combat forces from Vietnam, ships were still required for naval presence, mine-clearance support and other regional assignments. NAVASOTA's own documented activities were fuel and personnel support.

On August 1, 1973, NAVASOTA was operating in the Gulf of Tonkin, where she replenished USS HALEAKALA (AE 25) and received a helicopter from USS HANCOCK. HANCOCK sent another helicopter on August 2. On August 3, NAVASOTA refueled HANCOCK and AGERHOLM; on August 4 she replenished USS HULL (DD 945), and on August 5 she supplied AGERHOLM and FRANCIS HAMMOND. On August 6 she replenished HANCOCK, CONSTELLATION and USS GRAY (DE 1054), and received a helicopter from USS WHITE PLAINS (AFS 4).

On August 10, NAVASOTA replenished USS DULUTH (LPD 6), USS SAMPLE (DE 1048), USS THOMASTON (LSD 28), TRIPOLI and USS LYNDE McCORMICK (DDG 8). On August 12 she began assisting USS BEAUFORT (ATS 2), whose tow had developed difficulties in heavy seas. She continued to support BEAUFORT during the following days and replenished her on August 13. On August 14, NAVASOTA proceeded toward Sattahip, Thailand, to put ashore a person traveling on emergency leave before resuming operations. On August 15, she again replenished LYNDE McCORMICK, SAMPLE, THOMASTON, DULUTH and TRIPOLI, and received a helicopter from TRIPOLI.

NAVASOTA departed the operating area for Subic Bay on August 16, 1973, and arrived on August 18. After loading and preparations, she departed the Philippines for home on August 20 by way of Pearl Harbor. During the return passage, she replenished USS TRUXTUN (DLGN 35) on August 29 and crossed the International Date Line on August 30. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on September 1, cleared customs and departed on September 4. On September 7, she conducted replenishments involving USS HENDERSON (DD 785), USS LEONARD F. MASON (DD 852), USS BRONSTEIN (DE 1037), USS LOCKWOOD (DE 1064) and USS KITTY HAWK. NAVASOTA reached Long Beach on September 10, completing the deployment that had begun on March 7.

During the remainder of 1973, NAVASOTA underwent inspections and performed coastal assignments. She shifted berths at Long Beach on October 4 and was inspected by a sub-board of the Pacific Fleet Board of Inspection and Survey on October 29. On November 9, Commander John Richard Campbell relieved Commander Richard Louis Mathews as commanding officer. Modified sea trials followed on November 26. NAVASOTA shifted between Long Beach and the fuel pier at San Pedro in early December, and on December 10 conducted underway replenishment exercises involving CORAL SEA and USS WILTSIE (DD 716). She returned to Long Beach on December 14, visited the San Pedro fuel pier again on December 19-20 and remained at Long Beach through the end of the year. NAVASOTA received the Navy Battle Efficiency Award for her performance during 1973.

NAVASOTA remained a Pacific Fleet oiler during a period when the United States was reducing its direct military involvement in Southeast Asia while retaining a naval presence in the western Pacific. The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, ended the Vietnam War, and the Navy was simultaneously reorganizing parts of its auxiliary fleet to make greater use of civilian-crewed ships administered by the Military Sealift Command. NAVASOTA was decommissioned on August 13, 1975, and transferred to the Military Sealift Command. As USNS NAVASOTA (T-AO 106), she continued performing replenishment duties with civilian mariners and an embarked Navy personnel detachment rather than a commissioned Navy ship's company. Her normal civilian complement was approximately 108.

Following her transfer, NAVASOTA continued supporting American forces in the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Her assignments involved carrying petroleum products to operating formations, replenishing ships at sea and returning to supporting ports or tanker loading points for additional cargo. On December 1-2, 1977, NAVASOTA took part in Exercise Compass 77 with naval support ships of the United Kingdom and Australia. The participating vessels included RFA TARBATNESS, RFA TIDE AUSTRAL, HMAS STALWART and HMAS SUPPLY. The exercise involved underway replenishment and cooperation among allied logistical vessels during a multinational deployment in the region.

During 1979, the American naval presence in the Indian Ocean increased following the Iranian Revolution and the deterioration of relations between Washington and Tehran. NAVASOTA received Navy Expeditionary Medal credit associated with the Iran and Indian Ocean area for February 23-May 22, 1979. After Iranian militants seized the American embassy in Tehran on November 4, the United States maintained naval formations in the northern Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea during the resulting hostage crisis. Further qualifying service for NAVASOTA began on November 21, 1979, and continued through January 24, 1980. She also received credit for February 23-May 9 and August 5-September 30, 1980. These awards establish qualifying service in the area.

During April 1980, when American military forces attempted the hostage-rescue mission known as Operation Eagle Claw, NAVASOTA was operating in the broader Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf region. A later first-hand naval account places her in the Strait of Hormuz during this period. The mission to rescue the hostages was abandoned on April 24-25 after technical problems and a fatal collision between aircraft at a desert staging area in Iran.

In August 1980, NAVASOTA was associated with a carrier group centered on USS MIDWAY (CV 41) during a changeover from the formation centered on USS CONSTELLATION in the Indian Ocean. Contemporary accounts place the relief around August 18-19. Ships identified with the incoming group included USS LEAHY (CG 16), USS PARSONS (DDG 33), USS ROBERT E. PEARY (FF 1073), USS FRANCIS HAMMOND and SAMPLE, together with other escorts. NAVASOTA supplied the logistics needed to sustain naval units at sea. The changeover occurred shortly before Iraq invaded Iran on September 22, 1980, beginning a war that increased the strategic importance of the Persian Gulf and its approaches.

From January 19 to January 22, 1981, NAVASOTA served as the high-value vessel during Exercise ASWEX 81-3U in waters off the Philippines. The surface escort included USS JOHN YOUNG (DD 973), USS ELLIOT (DD 967), GRAY, USS WHIPPLE (FF 1062), USS LANG (FF 1060) and USS RAMSEY (FFG 2). The opposing submarines were USS BARBEL (SS 580) and USS GRAYBACK (SS 574). The exercise emphasized antisubmarine tactics in shallow water and the protection of a replenishment ship transiting restricted passages. Following these maneuvers, NAVASOTA proceeded with several of the participating surface ships toward Pattaya Beach, Thailand. A port visit by the formation between February 3 and February 7 also supported planning for a subsequent exercise with the Royal Thai Navy, SEA SIAM 81-2.

NAVASOTA's further credited Indian Ocean service included January 28-March 31 and April 15-July 22, 1981. The American hostages had been released on January 20, but American naval forces remained deployed in the region while the Iran-Iraq War continued. A Navy photograph from June 1981 shows NAVASOTA refueling USS AMERICA in the Indian Ocean. Other photographs from 1981 document replenishments involving CONSTELLATION and USS SOMERS (DDG 34).

On October 19, 1981, a Navy photograph placed NAVASOTA alongside USNS MISPILLION (T-AO 105) at Subic Bay. Other ships visible in the same harbor included KITTY HAWK, USS STERETT (CG 31), USS INGERSOLL (DD 990) and USS HALSEY (CG 23). She continued supplying the Seventh Fleet during 1982 and 1983. On December 7, 1983, a Navy photograph recorded NAVASOTA simultaneously replenishing MIDWAY and USS ENGLAND (CG 22).

NAVASOTA's assignments extended beyond the Pacific during 1985. A contemporary report confirms that she deployed to the Mediterranean Sea during the period of tension between the United States and Libya. Her work was connected with the logistical support of American naval formations operating in the region. Between August 13 and August 17, 1985, the frigate FRANCIS HAMMOND conducted replenishment and personnel-transfer operations with NAVASOTA during its voyage from Hawaii toward Japan. These encounters are recorded in FRANCIS HAMMOND's operational history.

NAVASOTA received recognized expeditionary service credit for January 20-February 12, 1986, during the period of American naval activity connected with Libya. The later confrontation included armed incidents in the Gulf of Sidra in March and American air strikes in April, but these later operations fall outside NAVASOTA's documented qualifying dates. During August 24-28, 1986, she took part in operations in the South China Sea with FRANCIS HAMMOND, USS TOWERS (DDG 9), USS KNOX (FF 1052) and the Royal Australian Navy ships HMAS HOBART (D 39), HMAS DERWENT (DE 49) and HMAS PARRAMATTA (DE 46). These combined operations formed part of the routine multinational exercises conducted by American and allied naval forces in the western Pacific.

In 1987 NAVASOTA again supported the American naval presence in the Persian Gulf area. Her recognized expeditionary service extended from February 1 through July 23. The deployment took place as the Iran-Iraq War affected commercial shipping and as the United States prepared expanded protection for merchant traffic, including the escort arrangements later known as Operation Earnest Will. NAVASOTA's documented function remained supply and refueling support.

On January 25, 1990, NAVASOTA joined American naval vessels responding to the distress of the Chinese merchant ship HUAZHU, which was sinking roughly 40 miles north of Luzon in the South China Sea. The responding ships included USS LAKE CHAMPLAIN (CG 57), USS STEIN (FF 1065) and LOCKWOOD. Aircraft and ships involved in the rescue recovered the merchant vessel's crew. Published Navy summaries differ on the precise number of survivors, but NAVASOTA's participation and the date of the operation are documented. A contemporary newspaper account also describes her crew assisting mariners from a sinking vessel in the South China Sea during the first part of the year.

During 1990, NAVASOTA returned to San Francisco Bay for the first time since she had begun an extended period of overseas service in 1975. A report published in July 1990 described her return to the continental United States after almost fifteen years. Before mooring at the Oakland Naval Supply Center, she delivered an A-6 jet aircraft carried across the Pacific to Naval Air Station Alameda. She next proceeded to a repair facility in Portland, Oregon, for an extended overhaul intended to prepare her for further duties. Plans at the time called for NAVASOTA to operate with the Fleet Training Group at San Diego, providing underway replenishment training to ships preparing for deployment.

NAVASOTA was still active in February 1991, when a Navy photograph showed her during exercises off southern California. By this time, alterations to her forward replenishment arrangements had opened additional deck space for helicopter operations, and large hull identification numbers again appeared near the bow. As the Navy reassessed the size and composition of its post-Cold War fleet, her combination of original World War II-era machinery and a substantially newer cargo section was approaching the end of its useful service life.

NAVASOTA was placed out of service with the Military Sealift Command on October 2, 1991, ending more than forty-five years of service to the fleet. She entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet on November 19, 1991, and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on January 2, 1992. She was sold for scrapping on October 25, 1995, and withdrawn from reserve-fleet custody on November 14 for delivery to the purchaser. In addition to nine Korean War battle stars and fourteen Vietnam campaign stars, her awards included two Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations, the Navy Battle Efficiency Award and campaign or expeditionary medals recognizing her overseas assignments.

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