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N7KTP > NAVNET 27.11.04 00:43l 59 Lines 2925 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 28742_N7FSP
Read: DG8DG GUEST
Subj: USS RAPIDAN (AO-18)
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Sent: 041126/1457z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Oiler Rapidan fueled Atlantic and Pacific convoys
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
The oiler USS Rapidan (AO-18) was built under a U.S. Shipping
Board contract and was laid down Feb. 2, 1919 by the Newport News
Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va. The ship was named after
a river in Northern Virginia.
She was authorized for transfer to the Navy on Oct 29,1921, and
was commissioned Jan. 1, 1922, with Cmdr. M. P. Nash, USNRF, in com-
mand.
Displacing 16,800 tons, the Ramapo class ship was 478 feet in
length and had a mean draft of 26 feet, two inches. Top speed was 11
knots and there were 75 Sailors in Rapidan.
Assigned to the Naval Transport Service, Rapidan remained in com-
mission for only 6 months, most of which was spent at Norfolk. Ordered
inactivated in March, Rapidan decommissioned June 22, 1922 and was
berthed with the James River Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet until being
recommissioned on Jan. 22, 1940.
For the 18 months following her second commissioning, Rapidan
carried fuel from the Texas oil ports to ships and stations in the
Caribbean and along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Between September 1941 and
November 1942, she supplied petroleum products to Atlantic Fleet units
at Halifax Argentia, Reykjavik, Hvalfjordur, and various ports in
Greenland. Then, after overhaul, she served as escort oiler on a convoy
to Casablanca. On her return to New York, in early February 1943,
Rapidan resumed operations off the northeast coast, steaming between
New York, Boston, Portland, and Argentia until April when she got
underway for her first Mediterranean convoy.
Fueling units en route, she arrived at Gibraltar May 24, continued
on to Oran, discharged her cargo, then returned to the United States
and coastal operations. In September she resumed Caribbean operations
and on the 11th was damaged by an underwater explosion just off her
starboard quarter. Repairs. Were completed at Charleston; and, on the
25th, she resumed her oil runs, operating as far south as the
Netherlands West Indies, and as far north as Argentia.
In March of 1944 Rapidan was ordered to the Pacific. Transiting
the Pananma Canal March 19, she steamed up the West Coast to Seattle.
She then proceeded to Kodiak, Cold Bay, Dutch Harbor, and other
Aleutian ports. Rapidan received periodic assignments as station tanker
at Attu and Adak. The oiler then continued on the Alaskan shuttle until
June 28, 1946 when she was ordered back to the East Coast. She
transited the Panama Canal on Aug. 2, and on the 11th reported to the
5th Naval District for inactivation.
Decommissioned Sept 17,1946 at Portsmouth, Va., Rapidan was
transferred to the Maritime Commission on Sept 18, 1946. Her name was
struck from the Navy list on Oct 29, 1946. On Sept 10, 1947 she was
sold to the Northern Metals Co. for scrap.
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