USS Tappahannock (AO-43) was a in the United States Navy that served during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. She was sold for scrap in 1987.
Service history
Tappahannock was laid down as SS Jorkay, a type T2-A tanker, under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 157) on 24 December 1941 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (hull number 226). Renamed Tappahannock and designated AO-43 on 31 March 1942, she was launched on 18 April 1942, sponsored by Mrs. George Jessup, acquired by the Navy from the War Shipping Administration on 29 May 1942, and converted for Navy service at the Philadelphia Navy Yard between 1 June and 17 July. Nearly midway through this conversion period, the oiler was commissioned on 22 June 1942. She was the only U.S. Navy ship named with the cognate name for the Rappahannock River in eastern Virginia.
1942
Following her shakedown cruise, Tappahannock reported for duty with Commander, Service Force, Atlantic (ComServLant), on 13 August, and soon got underway south for Panama. In the Canal Zone, the oiler took on board 300 tons of stores for Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron (MTBRon) 3, as well as two PT boats, and left Balboa on 29 August, bound for the South Pacific
Tappahannock unloaded her cargo at Nouméa, New Caledonia, on 18 September; and then visited Auckland, New Zealand; Pago Pago, Samoa; and Nadi, Fiji, before becoming station tanker at Nouméa. There, she fueled a wide variety of ships until 20 November, when she headed for the west coast.
Tappahannock arrived at San Pedro on 11 December and then moved to San Diego, where she remained through the end of the year.
1943
Getting underway again on 2 January 1943, the oiler operated briefly out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, before returning south to San Pedro and San Francisco en route back to the South Pacific.
By early spring, Tappahannock was in the Guadalcanal area, as American forces sought to consolidate their hold on the bitterly contested Solomons. On 1 April, a Grumman J2F Duck seaplane, attached to , crashed into the oiler's mainmast and damaged her radar tower and antenna. The ship then shifted her berth from Espiritu Santo to Tulagi Harbor.
On 6 April, she proceeded to Lunga Point, off Guadalcanal, and then commenced transferring fuel and diesel oil to and Fuel Oil Barge YO-147, as well as transferring highly volatile aviation gas to shore tanks. Later in the day, at 1930, Japanese aircraft succeeded in dropping a few bombs astern of Tappahannocks berth during a nuisance raid, but did no damage.
The following day found the oiler still off Lunga, pumping aviation gasoline to tanks ashore. At 1130, the ship received an air raid alert for a Japanese attack expected at 1245. Fifteen minutes later, Tappahannock intercepted a dispatch ordering all ships in the vicinity to get underway immediately. The oiler disconnected her fueling hose and quickly got underway, in company with destroyers and . The trio then proceeded through the Lunga Channel at their best sustained smokeless speed of 17 knots. Unknowingly the American sailors were steaming directly in the path of a segment of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's force as he made his last thrust against the American Navy in the Solomon Islands.
At 1510, as the three-ship convoy steamed through a smooth sea, beneath an overcast sky, a "Condition-Red" warning sounded from Guadalcanal. Four minutes later, lookouts noted tell-tale bursts far astern, and then spotted seven aircraft milling about, as if engaged in a "dog fight." But suddenly the apparent melee became an orderly formation of Aichi D3A "Vals."
For the next five minutes, Tappahannock, the key target of the Japanese dive bombers, fought for her life. The first Japanese dive bomber came in from off the port quarter — as the ship was swinging to starboard to evade the attack — and dropped her bomb abaft the bridge. The oiler shuddered as the explosion sent up a geyser of water higher than the mainmast. Three cane fenders and a Franklin lifebuoy were carried away topside while a fountain of water showered the bridge. Below, thermo overload switches went dead in the machinery spaces, and the oiler began to lose way.
In the meantime, Tappahannocks gunners concentrated their fire on the Japanese aircraft; and it dipped lower and lower until it splashed into the water. At the same time, a quick glance in Woodworths direction revealed that the destroyer was keeping up her share of anti-aircraft fire.