USS Sacramento (AOE-1)

Career

Ordered:	08 August 1960
Laid down:	30 June 1961
Launched:	14 September 1963
Commissioned:	14 March 1964
Decommissioned:	n/a
Fate:	Active, in commission
Homeport:	Bremerton, Washington
Motto:	Ready for Service
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	18,884 tons
Length:	796 ft (243 m)
Beam:	107 ft (33 m)
Draught:	38 ft (11.6 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines
Speed:
Complement:	34 officers and 602 enlisted
Armament:

USS Sacramento (AOE-1) is the third ship in the United States Navy to bear the name, for both the river and city in California. She is the lead ship of her class.

She combines the functions of three logistics ships in one hull; fleet oiler (AO), ammunition ship (AE), and refrigerated stores ship (AFS).

Admiral Arleigh Burke originated the concept of a single supply ship system. He saw the design as an answer to logistics problems he encountered during World War II. The limited speed, range, and payload of early Underway Replenishment groups prevented resupply due to bad weather and tactical demands of the war. To counter these problems, the Fast Combat Support Ship (AOE) was designed.

The keel was laid for the first at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington on June 30, 1961. The traditional champagne bottle was broken against the bow of AOE-1 on September 14, 1963, by Mrs. Edmund Brown, ships's sponsor and wife of the Governor of California.

Sacramento was commissioned on March 15, 1964. Undersecretary of the Navy, Paul B. Fay Jr, addressed the crowd, stating, "The greatest pleasure I have in being here today is ... participating in the commissioning of a vessel which will provide the Navy with a unique capability hitherto never contained in one ship." He added the ship would be able to "run in speed with a destroyer escort, thereby giving our fast attack carrier task forces a flexibility of action hitherto unknown."

Sacramento is considered a benchmark in West Coast shipbuilding. The ship and two of her sister ships, Seattle and Detroit, are the largest ships ever built on the West Coast. Only Iowa class battleships and aircraft carriers have greater displacements than Sacramento.

The ship's main engines came from the never completed battleship Kentucky and deliver in excess of 100,000 shaft horsepower (75 MW) to two 23 foot (7 m) screws, the largest on any ship in the Navy.

Sacramento is scheduled to be decommissioned on or about 1 October 2004.

See USS Sacramento for other ships of this name.

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

Official Web site of USS Sacramento