USS Cossatot (AO-77)

Career
Name: USS Cossatot
Builder: Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania
Laid down: 24 October 1942
Launched: 28 February 1943
Commissioned: 20 April 1943
Decommissioned: 7 March 1946
In service: 1947
Out of service: 1974
Honors and
awards:		 2 battle stars (World War II)
Fate: Sold, 2 September 1975
General characteristics
Type: Suamico-class fleet replenishment oiler
Displacement: 5,782 long tons (5,875 t) light
21,800 long tons (22,150 t) full
Length: 523 ft 6 in (159.56 m)
Beam: 68 ft (21 m)
Draft: 30 ft (9.1 m)
Propulsion: Turbo-electric, single screw, 8,000 hp (5,966 kW)
Speed: 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Boats and landing
craft carried:		 4 × Elco PT boats
Capacity: 140,000 barrels (22,000 m3)
Complement: 251
Armament: • 1 × 5"/38 caliber gun
• 4 × 3"/50 caliber guns
• 4 × twin 40 mm AA guns
• 4 × twin 20 mm AA guns

USS Cossatot (AO-77) was a United States Navy World War II Type T2-SE-A1 tanker which served as a fleet oiler. Launched as SS Fort Necessity on 28 February 1943 by the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. W. Taylor; acquired by the Navy on 17 March 1943; and commissioned on 20 April 1943 Commander P. G. Beck, USNR, in command. It was named for a river in Arkansas.

Contents

World War II

Sailing from Norfolk to Baytown, Texas, to load kerosene, gasoline, and fuel oil in July 1943, Cossatot sailed from Norfolk on 6 August to fuel convoy escorts during their passage to Casablanca, returning to Norfolk on 14 September. She made seven such voyages from Norfolk to the North African ports of Casablanca, Oran, and Bizerte between 4 October 1943 and 30 November 1944.

Cossatot put to sea from Norfolk again on 28 December 1944 bound for the Pacific. She loaded diesel oil, fuel oil, and gasoline at Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 30 January 1946. She operated from Saipan from 12 February fueling ships of the 6th Fleet until 3 March, when she began operations from Ulithi. Cossatot sortied as a part of TG 60.8, the logistics group for the 6th Fleet, for operations off Iwo Jima from 13 March to 12 April. On 16 April she sailed with her group to conduct fueling operations off newly assaulted Okinawa. On 28 April she splashed a suicide plane as it dove toward her, and remained on this duty unscathed until 4 May when she arrived at Ulithi to reload. From 26 May until the end of the War, Cossatot operated out of Ulithi fueling various units of fast carrier TF 38, engaged in the final strikes against the Japanese homeland.

Cossatot left Ulithi on 3 September for Okinawa and Sasebo, arriving on 21 September to fuel ships of the occupation force. On 12 November she sailed from Yokosuka for San Francisco, arriving on 26 November.

Cossatot received two battle stars for World War II service.

Post-war

Cossatot was placed out of commission in reserve 7 March 1946 and transferred to the Maritime Commission on 28 October 1946. Reacquired in February 1948, she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service on 1 October 1949 where she has served in a noncommissioned status under the Maritime Administration.

While underway in the Pacific Ocean on 16 April 1963 Cossatot reported seeing an unidentified flying object on a straight and fast course in the skies. It was described as glowing, and star-like, and on a trajectory at about 20 degrees and an altitude around 20,000 feet (6,100 m). No investigation was put forward.

According to Greenpeace records, on 15 June 1968 Cossatot was damaged after a collision with the merchant vessel Copper State, in fog, off the coast of Santa Cruz, California. Cossatot was carrying 130,000 barrels (21,000 m3) of jet fuel and lost 20 feet (6.1 m) of her bow section in this collision. Cossatot was stricken on 18 September 1974 and sold 2 September 1975. No further information is available after this date.

References

External links

Suamico · Tallulah · Pecos · Cache · Millicoma · Saranac · Saugatuck · Schuylkill · Cossatot · Chepachet · Cowanesque · Sappa Creek · Paoli
 

Allatoona · Amiens · Appomattox · Averysboro · Ball's Bluff · Bennington · Black Jack · Blackstocks Ford · Blackwater · Bloody Marsh · Boundbrook · Brandy Station · Brandywine · Buena Vista · Bull Run · Bunker Hill · Bushy Run · Caddo · Cantigny · Caribbean · Carnifax Ferry · Catawba Ford · Catham · Cedar Creek · Cedar Mountain · Cerro Gordo · Chadd's Ford · Champion's Hill · Chancellorsville · Chantilly · Chapultepec · Charlestown · Chateau-Thierry · Cherry Valley · Chesapeake Capes · Chickamauga · Chrysler's Field · Churubusco · Conastoga (MC hull number 350) · Conastoga (MC hull number 352) · Contreras · Corinth · Corsicana · Cowpens · Cross Keys · Crown Point · Diamond Island · Drewry's Bluff · Edge Hill · Esso Camden · Esso Memphis · Esso New Haven · Esso Portland · Esso Roanoke · Esso Scranton · Esso Springfield · Esso Utica · Eutaw Springs · Fairfax · Fisher's Hill · Five Forks · Fort Cornwallis · Fort Cumberland · Fort Duquesne · Fort Lee · Fort Necessity · Fort Niagara · Fort Schuyler · Fort Stanwick · Fredericksburg · French Creek · Frenchtown · Front Royal · Gaines Mill · Germantown · Gettysburg · Glorieta · Great Meadows · Groveton · Guilford/Colina · Hanging Rock · Harlem Heights · Harpers Ferry · Hegra · Hobkirk's Hill · Hubbardton · Jalapa · James Island · Karsten Wang · Kenesaw Mountain · Kernstown · Kettle Creek · Kittanning · La Mesa · Lake Erie · Lake George · Lone Jack · Lookout Mountain · Louisburg · Lyon's Creek · Malvern Hill · Manassas · Marne · Mauvilla · McDowell · Meuse-Argonne · Mill Spring · Missionary Ridge · Molino del Rey · Monmouth · Monocacy · Moor's Fields · Murfreesboro · Musgrove Mills · New Hope · New Market · Newtown · Opequon · Palo Alto · Paoli · Perote · Perryville · Petersburg · Pine Bluff · Point Pleasant · Port Republic · Port Royal · Prairie Grove · Princeton · Pueblo · Rich Mountain · Ridgefield · Rum River · Sag Harbor · Saint Mihiel · Salmon Falls · San Antonio · San Pasqual · Sandy Creek · Santiago · Sedan · Seven Pines · Sharpsburg · Shiloh · Somme · South Mountain · Spottsylvania · Spring Hill · Stillwater · Tampico · Ticonderoga · Trenton/Calusa · Trevilian · Tullahoma · Turkey Island · Valley Forge · Valverde · Vera Cruz · Vicksburg · Vincennes · Wauhatchie · Waxhaws · White Plains · Whitehorse · Williamsburg · Winchester · Yellow Tavern