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USNS John Ericsson (T-AO 194)

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USNS JOHN ERICSSON is the 8^th of the 18 HENRY J. KAISER class underway replenishment oilers and is presently scheduled to the deactivated on July 31, 2026.

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Crew List:

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

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USNS JOHN ERICSSON History:

USNS JOHN ERICSSON, a HENRY J. KAISER-class fleet oiler named for the 19th-century engineer, was laid down at Pennsylvania Shipbuilding in Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 1989, launched on April 21, 1990, and placed in service with Military Sealift Command on March 18, 1991. From the outset she was assigned to Pacific Fleet logistics, built to move large volumes of F-76 marine diesel and JP-5 aviation fuel to underway combatants and aviation-capable ships.

Her first documented operational year after delivery saw her on the WestPac track supporting surface forces. On January 8, 1992, the cruiser USS LAKE CHAMPLAIN (CG 57) recorded an underway replenishment with JOHN ERICSSON during early-year operations, an entry that placed the oiler squarely in the Seventh Fleet rhythm only months after entering service and as the post-Gulf War regional security picture stabilized in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

By the mid-1990s, she was a familiar presence to forward-deployed ships out of Japan. In 1995, the frigate USS CURTS (FFG 38) noted that JOHN ERICSSON "provided...plenty of fuel" for a high-tempo transit to join the INDEPENDENCE (CV 62) battle group, and on November 1, 1995, CURTS again logged a replenishment with JOHN ERICSSON in heavy seas - routine for the oiler, but indicative of the weather margins within which the civilian-mariner crew operated to keep screening ships on station during a period marked by heightened U.S. presence across Northeast and Southeast Asia. The same year, after fast combat support ship USS SACRAMENTO (AOE 1) collided with USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) in the Arabian Gulf, JOHN ERICSSON - paired with the combat stores ship USS SAN JOSE (AFS 7) - relieved SACRAMENTO to sustain the carrier and her escorts during Operation Southern Watch tasking, a reminder that oilers also backstop broader logistics when the principal fast support ship is unavailable.

In the immediate post-9/11 era, JOHN ERICSSON shifted seamlessly into the long distances and long durations of Operation Enduring Freedom. Between October 28 and November 3, 2001, she delivered a record 407 pallets of cargo to Navy ships operating in the North Arabian Sea, part of the logistics surge that enabled sustained carrier flight operations and maritime interception patrols as coalition forces began the Afghanistan campaign.

Through the mid-2000s, she continued to knit together carrier and cruiser-destroyer operations across the western Pacific. On March 2, 2005, she pulled clear of USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) after a replenishment at sea - one of a series of evolutions supporting the forward-deployed carrier strike group as it maintained presence from the Philippine Sea to the Sea of Japan during a period of routine patrols and combined exercises. In May 2009, helicopters from USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74) lifted cargo from JOHN ERICSSON during a RAS, and on June 13, 2009, she refueled USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) at sea, the oiler shifting efficiently between two carrier air wings as they patrolled the Western Pacific.

She remained a staple of the forward-deployed GEORGE WASHINGTON ecosystem in 2011, conducting replenishment alongside the carrier and a strike group destroyer shortly after the carrier departed Yokosuka on June 12 for its western Pacific patrol, and continued the high-tempo Seventh Fleet routine into 2012, when she was photographed conducting RAS with USS COWPENS (CG 63) on September 5 while the cruiser was attached to GEORGE WASHINGTON.

JOHN ERICSSON's versatile role extended to humanitarian and search-and-rescue support. On July 14, 2010, in the South China Sea off Luzon, she recovered five Filipino fishermen who had been in the water for nine hours after Typhoon Conson capsized their banca. In March 2014, as the United States surged assets to help Malaysia search for missing Flight MH370, JOHN ERICSSON deployed to the Gulf of Thailand/Strait of Malacca approaches to provide at-sea fuel and logistics to USS PINCKNEY (DDG 91) and other responders, extending the destroyer's endurance on station as the search area expanded.

The ship's bread-and-butter mission - keeping U.S. and partner ships fueled - continued without pause. On June 20, 2011, she again serviced USS GEORGE WASHINGTON during that year's patrol. On September 5, 2012, she fueled USS COWPENS in Seventh Fleet waters; and on October 14, 2010 she was documented at sea on the Western Pacific line, emblematic of the constant shuttle tracks between Yokosuka-based and visiting units. In June 2017, her crew conducted a RAS with USS JOHN S. McCAIN (DDG 56) in the Pacific, with imagery highlighting the under-way engineering and fueling watchstanding that keeps the rigs safe and the fuel moving.

JOHN ERICSSON figured in joint-force exercises as the Indo-Pacific command emphasized large-force integration. During VALIANT SHIELD 2020 she steamed in formation with the exercise force as the logistics cornerstone that allowed high-sortie air and surface events to run without turning off station, a role sometimes overlooked but central to blue-water training realism. In July 2020, she also conducted an UNREP with the dry cargo ship USNS RICHARD E. BYRD (T-AKE 4), moving fuel within the Combat Logistics Force to position stocks close to the operating force.

As the U.S. posture emphasized alliances and presence around the First Island Chain in 2023-2024, JOHN ERICSSON's track tightened around the Philippine Sea, South China Sea and Philippine ports. On September 11, 2023, she fueled USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70) and USS STERETT (DDG 104) in company; on December 13, 2023, during a routine port visit to Subic Bay, her Military Sealift Command Far East detachment led community outreach in nearby Olongapo - an ancillary detail that time - stamps her presence in the Luzon corridor. In January 2024, she conducted replenishments with USS STERETT in the South China Sea (January 12) and in the Philippine Sea (January 26), bookending Carrier Strike Group ONE evolutions early in the deployment.

That spring, JOHN ERICSSON repeatedly serviced the NIMITZ-class carriers operating in Seventh Fleet. On April 3, 2024, she fueled USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) in the Philippine Sea. On May 31, 2024, she supported USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76) in the same waters, Commander, Task Force 73 coordinating with MSC Far East to keep the forward-deployed carrier's air wing flying; and on February 20, 2024, she conducted RAS with the amphibious transport dock USS SOMERSET (LPD 25) in the South China Sea, underscoring her support to both carrier and amphibious groups during a period of overlapping activities across the First Island Chain.

The oiler also remained a routine partner to destroyers in independent and strike-group roles: on March 5, 2024, she refueled USS RUSSELL (DDG 59); and in April 2024, MSC imagery again captured her alongside THEODORE ROOSEVELT during a replenishment-at-sea evolution.

In 2025, USNS JOHN ERICSSON remained in active Military Sealift Command service while simultaneously entering a clearly documented pathway toward inactivation. On March 31, 2025, a delivery order was issued to provide lubricating oil for the ship, a routine but essential indicator of continued operational sustainment. A more defined maintenance window followed on June 9, 2025, when a contract action for vessel repair and maintenance for USNS JOHN ERICSSON was recorded with performance in the Philippines and an expected completion date of September 30, 2025, consistent with a structured upkeep period rather than uninterrupted deployment tempo.

As the year progressed, planning shifted from routine sustainment toward end-of-service preparations: on July 25, 2025, Military Sealift Command issued a solicitation for FY26 USNS JOHN ERICSSON deactivation, with multiple updates posted afterward, indicating that detailed deactivation work packages were being assembled well ahead of execution. On September 25, 2025, Naval Administrative Message 195/25 listed USNS JOHN ERICSSON for inactivation planning with a projected inactive date of July 31, 2026, aligning the ship's near-term maintenance and contracting activity with a formal timeline for removal from active service. Near the end of the year, publicly visible ship-tracking data recorded USNS JOHN ERICSSON arriving in Norfolk, Virginia, on December 18, 2025, in preparation for deactivation.

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USNS JOHN ERICSSON Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by me on July 27, 2006, and shows the JOHN ERICSSON berthed at Pearl Harbor, HI.

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