USS TAMALPAIS AO-96
Was Launched by Marinship on October 29, 1944
The Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad, known as “the crookedest railroad in the world,” was constructed in 1896; it brought passengers from Mill Valley to the summit via 281 curves. Atop Mt. Tam, the Tavern of Tamalpais welcomed diners and dancers. Tamalpais Creek flows from the area into the bay north of Sausalito. Bay Area walkers and visitors from around the world have enjoyed rambling the slopes of Mount Tamalpais. Glorious panoramas of the Pacific coastline and San Francisco Bay were attracting walkers to the mountain top well before Mt. Tam was preserved as a state park in 1928.


bullet Escambia class Fleet Oiler
bullet Displacement: 21,880 tons
bullet Length: 523'6"
bullet Beam: 68'
bullet Draft: 30'
bullet Speed: 15.5 knots (max.); 13 knots (econ).
bullet Armament: 1 5"/38 DP, 4 3"/50 DP, 4x2 40mm, 4x2 20mm
bullet Complement: 267
bullet Capacity: 140,000 barrels
bullet Turbo-electric engines, single screw, 8,000 hp
bullet Marine Commission T2-SE-A2 type

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A model of this ship existed at the time this web page was created on April 2, 2009. It was displayed at Defense Logistics Agency in Fort Belvoir, VA. It was moved to NSWCCD IN West Bethesda, MD two weeks later.  MARINSHIP was built on a marsh area just inside San Francisco Bay at Sausalito.  Some 30,000 pilings were put down to support the shipyard. Within 90 days of the ending  of the Pacific War it had been totally dismantled.  Only the large administrative building still exists. Today the area is covered with condos and is a yacht basin.


The Navy commissioned the ship on May 20, 1945.  James E. (Gene) Leavelle, Radioman 3/C  USNR-V6 1944-4946 was assigned aboard the ship on May 23, 1945 and served until June 13, 1946. 

The ship was decommissioned at Mobile, Alabama on June 23, 1946.  It was taken out of the mothball fleet on two different occasions (Korean War & Vietnam War) and placed back in Navy service.  Sometimes it was manned by civilian crews.  At other times it was manned by Navy crews.  TAMALPAIS crew members have never been able to find anyone who served on the ship after it was placed back in service in 1951.  The fate of the ship is UNKNOWN.  If you should ever come across any information that reveals its ultimate disposition, The reunion group would appreciate your sharing the information.



DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY (DLA)
Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Joan (Jay) Williams stands by the USS TAMALPAIS AO-96 display she is in charge of. A board is included, full of photos of the launching of the ship in October 1944 as well as a copy of the SHIP’S HISTORY.

Jay sent the photo below to Vern as he was gathering information about the creation of a model ship for the Neosho Class Oiler.

These two photos were taken by a photographer at Fort Belvoir that came over to get pictures of the WWII Veterans on their visit
to the Tamalpais model on June 1, 2006.    Gene Leavelle, the one in the white cap, is the ships historian. 




While Vern was talking to Gene on April 2nd, the subject of how different the ship's heads were during WWII. Well, Gene said, where there were many, many men on a ship, out-rigged comfort stations were placed over the side.


On the Tamalpais crew tour of SS Lane Victory  in September of 2005, he was able to take the photo at right. The SS Lane Victory is a working museum in San Pedro, CA, run by former Merchant Mariners.
               Go To OILER MUSEUM DISPLAY