USS Roanoke (AOR-7)

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

USS Roanoke (AOR-7)
Career
Name:	USS Roanoke
Builder:	National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego
Laid down:	19 January 1974
Launched:	7 December 1974
Commissioned:	30 October 1976
Decommissioned:	6 October 1995
Struck:	6 October 1995
Fate:	Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, California.
Status:	December, 2012 in Drydock 4 for cleaning at Mare Island, CA prior to towing for disassembly
General characteristics
Class & type:	Wichita-class replenishment oiler
Displacement:	14,048 long tons (14,273 t) light 39,790 long tons (40,429 t) full
Length:	659 ft (201 m)
Beam:	96 ft (29 m)
Draft:	37 ft (11 m)
Propulsion:	3 × boilers, 2 × steam turbines, 2 × shafts, 32,000 shp (23,862 kW)
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	34 officers, 463 enlisted
Armament:	• 2 × Phalanx CIWS • 1 × Sea Sparrow missile system (NSSMS)
Aircraft carried:	2 × CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters

USS Roanoke (AOR-7) was a Wichita-class replenishment oiler of the United States Navy. She was named after the city of Roanoke, Virginia and the Roanoke River, in keeping with the naming convention of her class.

Built by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, of San Diego, California, she was launched on 7 December 1974, and commissioned on 30 October 1976.

The Roanoke was decommissioned on 6 October 1995, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register the same day.

Title to the ship was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration on 18 December 1998, and she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, at Suisun Bay, California.

Awards

• Joint Meritorious Unit Award
• 2 × Meritorious Unit Commendation
• 2 × Navy Expeditionary Medal (Iran/Indian Ocean)
• National Defense Service Medal
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
• Southwest Asia Service Medal
• Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)

References

• Photo gallery of Roanoke at NavSource Naval History
• 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.
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• 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.