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U. S. Navy Auxiliary Ships
1835-1945

To access the ship listings click on this photograph or click "Enter."



The ammunition ship USS Rainier (AE-5) replenishing USS Antietam (CV-36) and USS Wisconsin (BB-64) in 1952.

Enter

(Quick Links Menu)

(Ship Name Index)


This portion of the Shipscribe site contains reference information on the auxiliary ships of the United States Navy that were on hand or added to the force between 1835 and 1945. For each ship the site provides name and classification, technical specifications, procurement history, and dates of and other relevant data on construction, commissioning, and disposal. Changes in this information that occurred during the ship's career are identified, including those after 1945, but other career details, notably operational history, are outside the scope of this work.

Ships are listed by type using standard U. S. Navy classifications (AD: Destroyer Tender, etc.) and class. To proceed to the ship class pages, click "Enter" above or click on the photograph at the top of this page to access the main ship type page. For each type, if you want full data on the classes with links to their photographs, click the link on the left; if you want to go directly to the photographs, click the link on the right. The Quick Links Menu is an alphabetical listing of ship types with direct links to them.

Whenever possible, representative photographs have been provided for each ship class. These were selected to show the original configuration of the class and major subsequent modifications. They are primarily from the U. S. Naval History and Heritage Command and from Record Groups 19-LCM and 80-G at the U. S. National Archives. Unlike the other information on this site, all of which is copyright © by Stephen S. Roberts, all photographs that originated from U.S. Government collections or that have U.S. Government file numbers are believed to be in the public domain. For most classes many other photographs exist. For more complete online collections of U. S. Navy ship photographs see in particular the former NHHC (now Hyperwar) Online Library of Selected Images and the NavSource Photo Archive.

The Naval Historical Center was renamed the Naval History and Heritage Command in December 2008. The new name is used in the Shipscribe site, although some references to the old name may remain. Click here for a history of its "Online Library of Selected Images."


Register of Ships of the U. S. Navy, 1775-1990
This site is a cyber sequel to the book Register of Ships of the U. S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants, by K. Jack Bauer and Stephen S. Roberts, published by Greenwood Press in 1991. It emulates the scope and format of that volume and uses the same nomenclature and abbreviations. For more information on Major Combatants follow these links to descriptions by two on-line retailers:
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble


This entire site, including all its pages, is copyright © Stephen S. Roberts, 2001-2022 or later as indicated.


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