USS Merrimack (AO-179)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Merrimack.

USS Merrimack (AO-179)
USS Merrimack before the jumboization, 1985
Career (USA)
Name:	USS Cimarron
Namesake:	Merrimack River
Builder:	Avondale Shipyards
Laid down:	16 July 1979
Launched:	17 May 1980
Commissioned:	14 November 1981
Decommissioned:	18 December 1998
Struck:	18 December 1998
Status:	James River Reserve Fleet
General characteristics
Displacement:	36,977 tons full load
Length:	700 ft (210 m)
Beam:	88 ft (27 m)
Draft:	32 ft (9.8 m)
Propulsion:	Steam Turbine
Speed:	20 kn (37 km/h)
Complement:	12 officers, 148 enlisted
Armament:	2 × 25 MM Cannons 2 × 20 MM Phalanx Cannons CIWIS 4 × 50 Cal. Machine Guns

USS Merrimack (AO-179) was the third ship of the Cimarron-class of fleet oilers of the United States Navy. Merrimack was built at the Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA) starting in 1978 and was commissioned in 1981 for service in the Atlantic Fleet. Total cost for the ship was $107.1 million. She was last homeported at Norfolk, Virginia (USA). Between 1989 and 1991 Merrimack was "jumboized", meaning that, after cutting the ship into two sections after about a third from the bow, a 35.7 m long section was added to increase the fuel load. Merrimack was decommissioned on 18 December 1998 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on the same day. Her title was transferred to the Maritime Administration. She is currently moored at Fort Eustis, Virginia, with the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

Merrimack after refueling USS Iowa (BB-61) in 1985.

References

• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Navsource
• Wildenberg, Thomas (1996). Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912-1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/GSBO/index.html. Retrieved 2009-04-28.