United States Warships with Volcano Names
The US Navy has, over the years, had 36 ships designated AE.
These were/are ammunition supply vessels, the majority of
which bore the names of volcanoes or explosives.
Someone in the Naval hierarchy must have had a wry sense of
humor.
Two were converted AKA's (Attack Cargo Ships),
the remainder fall into six classes: the Pyro, Lassen, Sangay,
Wrangell, Suribachi/Nitro and, most recently, Kilauea Classes.
Fortunately, only one has ever been lost, Mt. Hood (AE-11),
which exploded in unexplained circumstances during WWII.
Click on ship image for ship covers
Lassen Class (AE1 to 9,11,13) |
Sangay Class (AE10) |
Wrangell Class (AE12, 14-19) |
Suribachi Class (AE21-25) |
Kilauea Class (AE26-35)
|
|
Not illustrated as yet are:
Volcanic:
- AE-10, Sangay
- AE-11, Hood
Non-Volcanic:
- AE-1, AE-24, Pyro
- AE-2, AE-23, Nitro
- AE-7, H. Gibbons
- AE-14, Firedrake
- AE-20, Fomalhaut
- AE-30, Virgo
- AE-31, Chara
- AE-32, AE-36? Flint
Another ship with a volcanic Name is the USS Vulcan, actually there
have been three USS Vulcan's.
The third was AR-5, a Repair Ship, launched 14th December 1940 and
commissioned 16th June, 1941.
At the time it was decommissioned on September 30th, 1991, it was
the second oldest ship in the US Navy.
It was built by the NY based SB Corporation and based in Norfolk.
It holds the distinction of being the first US Navy ship to employ
women (apart from nurses).
Cover below courtesy of Jim Gaul.
Some covers courtesy of Matt Liebson
Who got me started on this!!!
Also thanks to Randy Kimes and Dan Jacobs for others.
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