Wichita-class replenishment oiler

Wichita-class replenishment oilers comprised a class of seven replenishment oilers used by the United States Navy from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s. The ships were designed for rapid underway replenishment using both connected replenishment and vertical replenishment.

USS Wichita (AOR-1), 1985
Class overview
Name: Wichita class
Builders:
In commission: 1969–1995
Planned: 7
Completed: 7
Retired: 7
General characteristics
Type: replenishment oiler
Displacement:
  • 13,533 tons empty,
  • 40,151 tons full
  • 26,618 dwt
Length: 640 ft (195 m) wl; 659 ft (201 m) oa
Beam: 96 ft (29 m)
Draft: 35 ft (10.6 m)
Propulsion:
  • 3 × boilers, 2 × steam turbines,
  • 2 × shafts, 32,000 SHP (24 MW)
Speed: 25 knots
Complement: 34 officers, 463 men
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 2 × UH-46 Sea Knight helicopters
Kalamazoo replenishing USS Nimitz and USS Josephus Daniels, in 1987.

Design

The original concept for the Wichita-class was that the ships would serve the same function for the anti-submarine carrier (CVS) groups that the larger, faster Sacramento-class ships did for the attack carrier (CVA) groups. During this time the ships were commissioned naval auxiliaries with the hull classification AOR.

The ships could carry 160,000 barrels (25,438,000 litres) of fuel oil (DFM) and/or jet fuel (JP5), 600 tons of munitions, 200 tons of dry stores and 100 tons of refrigerated stores. To transfer cargo, the ships were equipped with four fueling stations and two cargo handing stations on the port side and three fueling stations and two cargo handing stations on the starboard side.[1] As built the port forward fuel station and associated tanks were for aviation gasoline (AVGAS), but were converted after the retirement of the Navy's last piston-engined aircraft. Originally, the first six ships only had a large helicopter landing deck aft, but no hangar. Roanoke was the first ship equipped with a large double hangar for two UH-46 Sea Knight helicopters. The hangar was later retrofitted to the other ships.

With the addition of the hangar, the ships lost the originally fitted 3"/50 caliber gun twin mounts that were located abaft the stack. In the 1980s, a Mk 29 launcher for the NATO Sea Sparrow was fitted atop the hangar, and two Phalanx CIWS were added.[2]

General Dynamics, Quincy originally encountered problems during the construction, before the production was rationalised. Wichita took 24 months from keel laying to launch, Milwaukee 21 month, and Kansas City only 14 months.[3]

With the reduction in the U.S. Navy fleet, these ships were all decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) in the 1990s.

Ships in class

Traditionally Navy oilers have been named for rivers; the Wichita class were named for city/river pairs with Native American names.

ShipHull No.BuilderHome PortCommissioned–
Decommissioned		FateNVR page
WichitaAOR-1General Dynamics, QuincyOakland1969–1993scrapped, 2013AOR-1
MilwaukeeAOR-2General Dynamics, QuincyNorfolk1969–1994scrapped, 2009AOR-2
Kansas CityAOR-3General Dynamics, QuincyOakland1970–1994scrapped, 2014AOR-3
SavannahAOR-4General Dynamics, QuincyNorfolk1970–1995scrapped, 2009AOR-4
WabashAOR-5General Dynamics, QuincyLong Beach1971–1994scrapped, 2013AOR-5
KalamazooAOR-6General Dynamics, QuincyNorfolk1973–1996scrapped, 2009AOR-6
RoanokeAOR-7National SteelLong Beach1976–1995scrapped, 2013AOR-7

References
  1. GlobalSecurity.org: AOR-1 Wichita
  2. FAS Military Analysis Network: AOR-1 Wichita
  3. Terzibaschitsch, Stefan (1997). Seemacht USA [Sea Power USA] (in German). Germany: Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg. ISBN 3-86047-576-2., p. 464-651
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