Susquehanna III AOG-5

Susquehanna III

(AOG-5: dp. 4,335; 1. 310'9, b. 48'6"; dr. 15'8; s.
14 k.; cpl. 134; a. 4 3~; cl. Patapeco)

The third Susquehanna (AOG-5) was laid down on 9 September 1942 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash.; launched on 23 November 1942 sponsored by Mrs. William Lindstrom, and commissioned on 7 June 1943, Lt. Peter H. V. Bamberg, USNR, in command.

Susquehanna sailed for San Diego on 25 June to begin her shakedown cruise which ended one month later. She moved up the coast to San Pedro to load and, on 27 July, got underway for Australia. The tanker arrived at Townsville on 18 August and was attached to the Service Force, 7th Fleet. On 4 September, she was underway for the Milne Bay area of New Guinea to service fleet units there. She returned to Australia to load cargo and aviation gas, from 23 to 29 November, and delivered it to Milne Bay. Susquehanna operated between Australian and New Guinea ports until December 1944. She made two trips to the Netherlands East Indies and, in addition to supplying gas for large fleet units, serviced PT boats at Buna and other bases.

Susquchanna departed New Guinea on 20 December 1944 with a load of cargo and fuel for Leyte, P.I., and arrived there on the 26th. She departed the Dulag transport area on 2 January 1945 for Mindoro with gasoline for the Army air strips. The convoy that Susquehanna was attached to, composed mostly of minesweepers, was under enemy air attack on 2, 3, and 4 January. Of four planes that attacked the convoy on the 3d, one was splashed by gunfire from Susquehanna.

She sailed from the Philippines on 16 February, returned to the New Guinea operating area, and remained there until returning to Manila on 13 December 1945. She operated in the Philippine Islands until mid-August 1946.

Susquehanna was transferred to the United States Army on 15 August 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 23 April 1947. The tanker was reacquired and reinstated on the Navy list on 1 July 1950. She was assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) at that time as T-AOG-5.

For the next nine years, Susquehanna shuttled between ports in Japan and Korea. The tanker finally departed Yokosuka for the United States on 17 February 1959 and arrived at San Francisco on 6 March. Susquehanna moved to Suisun Bay on 26 March 1959 and was struck from the Navy list on that date.