ASS – Antarctic Supply Ships
HMNZS Endeavour A(11)
HMNZS Endeavour (A11) was a fleet oiler for the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was named after James Cook’s Bark Endeavour and the third ship in the RNZN to carry that name, though if continuity with the Royal Navy ships of the name HMS Endeavour is considered, she is the twelfth.
The previous two ships of the RNZN were Antarctic research support vessels. Endeavour was built in South Korea to a commercial design and commissioned on 8 April 1988, and decommissioned on 15 December 2017.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMNZS_Endeavour_(A11)
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HMNZS Endeavour (A184)
USS Namakagon (AOG-53) was a Patapsco-class gasoline tanker built for the United States Navy during World War II. In some sources, the ship’s name is also spelled Namakogon. After her decommissioning from the U.S. Navy in 1957, the former Namakagon served as Antarctic supply vessel HMNZS Endeavour (A184) for the Royal New Zealand Navy (1962–1971), and as ROCS Lung Chuan for the Republic of China Navy. Lung Chuan ended active service when she was decommissioned from the Republic of China Navy in 2005.
Service history
United States Navy career
Namakagon was laid down on 1 August 1944 by Cargill, Inc., Savage, Minnesota and was launched on 4 November 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Alfred J. Scobba. The ship was commissioned on 18 June 1945.
The gasoline tanker Namakagon completed her U.S. Gulf Coast shakedown and, having filled her tanks at Baytown, Texas, departed for the Pacific Ocean, 19 July 1945. She arrived at Pearl Harbor as hostilities in the Pacific ceased and on 20 August continued on to Midway Island. Based at Pearl Harbor, she carried fuel to various islands of the Pacific, including Johnston Island, Canton Island, Marcus Island, Truk, Guam, Saipan, Okinawa, Peleliu, and Kyūshū, for over 18 months, then returned to the U.S. West Coast.
In early June, 1947, she completed overhaul at San Pedro, California, and on the 9th steamed north to her new homeport, Kodiak, Alaska. From there and from ports in Washington, she carried passengers and mixed cargo as she operated a gasoline provisioning shuttle to naval bases and stations on the coast and in the Aleutians. Detached from Kodiak in 1953, she returned to Pearl Harbor, whence she operated until June 1957. She then sailed to Mare Island, California, where she decommissioned on 20 September 1957, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet.
Royal New Zealand Navy career
On 27 June 1962, custody of Namakagon was transferred to the Commandant, 12th Naval District for activation, following which she was transferred, under the Military Aid Program, to the Royal New Zealand Navy, on 5 October 1962. Commissioned as HMNZS Endeavour (A184), an Antarctic supply ship, she delivered fuel to research bases on the seventh continent, bringing over 1 million gallons each year to McMurdo Sound alone, since 1963.
Taken in 1963 an unbroken white expanse of the frozen sea. In the far distance through the crystal-clear air, there is the volcanic outline of Mt Discovery, and the snow-capped peaks of the Transantarctic Mountains. The New Zealand ship Endeavour II, a fleet oiler, is being towed into frozen McMurdo Sound behind the powerful US Icebreaker Edisto. An earlier ship, Endeavour I, was the supply ship that carried people and materials to build Scott Base in 1956, in support of New Zealand’s contribution to the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.”
Lyttleton
Endeavour was decommissioned and returned to U.S. custody in 1971.
Republic of China Navy career
The former Namakagon was leased to the Republic of China Navy in 1971 and renamed ROCS Lung Chuan (AOG-515).[1] Her pennant number was later changed to AOG-507. Although Lung Chuan remained in the custody of the Republic of China Navy, the vessel was returned to the U.S. on paper in 1976, struck from the American Naval Vessel Register on 15 April, and sold back to the Republic of China. Lung Chuan was decommissioned on 1 April 2005 at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Her final disposition is unknown.
Military awards and honors
Namakagon’s crew was eligible for the following medals:
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia Clasp)
National Defense Service Medal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Namakagon
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HMNZS Endeavour was a Royal New Zealand Navy Antarctic support vessel. She was the first of three ships in the Royal New Zealand Navy to bear that name.
The ship was built in the United States in 1944 as Satinwood (YN-89) as a net tender of the Ailanthus class (but later redesignated as AN-76, a net layer) and transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease in August 1944. Commissioned as HMS Pretext (Z284), she served the United Kingdom until she was returned to United States Navy custody in November 1945. Sold by the United States Maritime Commission in 1947, she served as a research vessel for the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey under the name SV John Biscoe. She was briefly renamed Pretext when another ship was assigned the John Biscoe name, before being sold to the Royal New Zealand Navy, renamed Endeavour, and employed in supporting the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and subsequent New Zealand research activities in Antarctica. Sold again in 1962, the ship, renamed Arctic Endeavour for sealing work in the northern hemisphere, foundered off the coast of Canada in November 1982.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMNZS_Endeavour_(1944)
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