Noxubee AOG-56

Noxubee
(AOG-56: dp. 2,270,1. 310'9", b. 38'6", dr. 15'8"; s. 14 k. cpl. 124; a. 4 3"; cl. Patapseo)

Noxubee (AOG-56) was laid down by Cargill, Ine., Savage, Minn., 17 November 1944, Launched 3 April 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Wilbur F. Bagley, and commissioned at New Orleans, La., 19 October 1945, Lt. John Lands, USNR, in command. After training in the Gulf of Mexico out of Galveston, Tex., Noxubee carried petroleum products to overseas bases and ships, and replenished ships at sea, occasionally carrying light freight and provisions. For several months she delivered supplies to fleet tugs enroute to Bermuda, and on 25 April

1946 arrived at Norfolk, Va., her first home port. From this base and, after 16 November 1947, from Newport, R.I., she carried motor and aviation gasoline to bases in Newfoundland Labrador, the Azores, and Ieeland, often voyaging to oil ports in the Gulf States.

In 1950 and 1951, Noxubee made brief Atlantic crossings to deliver fuel to Casablanea and Naples, and in July 1951 she began the first of five lengthy deployments to the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. On each of these, she operated out of Tripoli, Libya, whence she took part in the vital peacekeeping missions of the fleet by replenishing its ships at sea and carrying petroleum to the various ports used by the fleet.

Noxubee used the intervals for necessary overhauls, training and assignments in the Western Atlantic, twice accompanying small convoys to the Azores to provide at-sea replenishment. She decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla. 6 March 1959, and lay in reserve until struck from the Navy List 1 July 1960, and transferred to the Maritime Administration. She rejoined the Navy in 1965 to meet the demands of the Viet Nam War, recommissioning at Norfolk 10 September 1966, and arriving Pearl Harbor, her new home port, 8 November. For the next year she operated in the mid and western Pacific serving ships of the 7th Fleet as they fought to repel Communist agression in Viet Nam. She continues in this important service into 1970.