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Colina
T2-SO
Kennebec Class Fleet Oiler:
Laid down as Colina, a Maritime Commission type (T2-SO) tanker hull, under Maritime
Commission contract (MC hull 146), at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Sparrows Point, MD.
Launched, 24 January 1942
Acquired by the Navy, 31 March 1942
Commissioned USS Kankakee (AO-39), 4 May 1942
Assigned to the Naval Transportation Service (NTS), 26 February 1946
Assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), 1 October 1949
Decommissioned, 30 November1955, at Philadelphia, PA.
Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet Recommissioned, 20 December 1956 and assigned to MSTS
Decommissioned, 4 November 1957, at New York, N.Y.
Struck from the Naval Register (date unknown)
Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet
Reacquired and placed in reserve, 1 February 1959
Recommissioned, 29 November 1961, at New Orleans, LA.
Decommissioned (date unknown)
Struck from the Naval Register, 1 January 1973
Transferred to the Maritime Administration for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet
Final Disposition, sold by MARAD, 1 April 1976, fate unknown.
( See photos below )
Specifications:
Displacement 6,013 t.(lt.) 21,077 t.(fl.)
Length 501' 5"
Beam 68'
Draft 30' 2"
Speed 16.5kts.
Complement 214
Armament one single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount, four single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts,
four twin 40mm gun mounts, four twin 20mm gun mounts
Cargo Capacity 134,000 barrels
Propulsion geared turbine, single screw, 12,000hp.
View the Kankakee (AO-39) DANFS history entry located at Navsource
USS Kankakee (AO-39) during underway replenishment, date and place unknown.
Forward port quarter view of Kankakee (AO-39) departing Mare Island, 23 August 1942.
Kankakee was undergoing repairs at Mare Island from 14 July to 23 August 1942.
( Photo collection Darryl Baker )
Broadside view of Kankakee (AO-39) off Mare Island, 23 August 1942.
( Photo collection Darryl Baker )
Aft port quarter view of Kankakee (AO-39) departing Mare Island, 23 August 1942.
( Photo collection Darryl Baker )
USS Kankakee (AO-39) put back into commission, at East Boston, Mystic River, June 1962.
( Photo Richard Leonhardt )
USS Kankakee (AO-39) refueling Wasp (CVS-18) in the North Atlantic, circa 1966-67.
( Photo Ben Brooks )
USS Kankakee (AO-39) underway in very cold conditions, date and place unknown.