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Kawishiwi was one of the newest, fastest,
and most modern of such ships for over 40 years. But to each man who
sailed
on her, way over 5000 men, she was so much more. During her deployment
to the Far East, KAWISHIWI was their home away from home. She was
one of a group of six
sister ships commonly known as Navy Super-Oilers, three of
which served
in the Pacific as vital members of the logistical lifeline that kept
the
Fleet mobile and ready to meet any challenge. All Navy oilers are named
for United States rivers that bear American Indian names; thus
KAWISHIWI
is derived from the river
of that name in the State of Minnesota.
This ship was designed for high speed replenisment of the fuel needs of our far-flung naval forces. This highly specialized evolution of underway replenishment can be carried on during daylight hours or under cover of night, and was not necessarily limited to the transfer of fuel and petroleum products; it had the capability of transferring to receiving ships; cargo, mail, passengers, and provisions, in addition to the primary products. These primary items were black oil, jet fuel, and aviation gasoline; it was not at all unusual to be pumping all these products simultaneously by making use of the many completely independent fueling rigs. |
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KAWISHIWI's consistent outstanding
performance made her a pace-setter of the modern Navy. Fast and sleek
with
a "can do" spirit in the face of any situation, KAWISHIWI, as befit any
beautiful lady, was proud of her "vital statictics." She was 656
feet long, had a beam of 83 feet, displaced 38,000 tons at full load,
andcould
steam up to twenty knots. Her liquid cargo capacity was in excess of
7,000,000
gallons, enough fuel to drive all the cars in the city of Los Angeles
to
New York and back again, or to keep a heavy cruiser continously at sea
for at least nine months. The past tense is used here because at
the
time of this writing, she is in Suisun
Bay, CA ; waiting to be
scrapped.
KAWISHIWI was literally a city
afloat.
Her gener- |
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Office,
bakery, machine shop, barber shop,
hospital, and hobby shop. The ship carried the most modern movie
projection equipment, and nightly movies were part of the ship's
routine
both underway and in port. Though most ladies won't tell their age
quite
readily, KAWISHIWI's youth is no secret. she was built by the New York
Shipbuilding Company of Camden,
New Jersey, the keel was laid in October 1953, the
same month Vern joined the Navy, she was launched in
December
1954, and commissioned in July 1955, Vern was there.
Her
original home port was Long
Beach, CA, where she arrived after a voyage from the
East Coast
via the Panama
Canal. |
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Her
record was proud one, before 1966,
she had won the coveted Battle Efficiency Award in two consecutive
years
followed by two years as runner-up. After 1976 the award was renamed
"Navy
Battle E" which she won in 1977. She has a long record
of awards, another, not on list was the NEY
award. Justly deserving, justly proud, KAWISHIWI men strived to
present
a picture of the Navy's finest. Known as the "SPECIAL
K" as of 1976
Our
officers and enlisted personel came
from nearly every state in the Union, and from the far-off territory of
American Samoa as well. She also had a number of shipmate nationals of
the Republic of the Philippines. This interesting mixture of racial and
cultural backgrounds aboard ship was very appropriate to the
cosmopolitan
setting of Hawaii, and KAWISHIWI was proud indeed to carry the "ALOHA"
spirit with her in calling at various ports throughout the vast Pacific.
In the same spirit we invite you to be an honorary KAWISHIWI shipmate and share with us our pride in a fine ship. "Shipmate" is a term peculiar to the seafaring fraternity the worldover; it is an all-embracing term that covers a multitude of human emotions but in KAWISHIWI, especially, it means that you're part of the heartbeat of a mighty ship. |
