USS Mauna Kea (AE 22).
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.
Class: SURIBACHI (AE 21)
Design: SCB Project No. 114
Displacement (tons): 9,758t light, 15,688t full (AE 21)
Dimensions (feet): 511' oa, 486' wl x 72' e/wl x 28' max nav
Armament: 4-3"/50T; (1965 except 25: 1969) 2-3"/50T
Accommodations: 20 officers, 324 enlisted (AE 21)
Speed (kts.): 21
Propulsion (HP): 18,000
Machinery: Geared steam turbines, 2 boilers (615psi/850deg), 1 screw
Construction:
| AE | Name | Ord | Builder | Keel | Launch | Comm |
| 21 | SURIBACHI | 4 Jun 1954 | Bethlehem Sparrows Point | 31 Jan 1955 | 2 Nov 1955 | 17 Nov 1956 |
| 22 | MAUNA KEA | 4 Jun 1954 | Bethlehem Sparrows Point | 16 May 1955 | 3 May 1956 | 30 Mar 1957 |
| 23 | NITRO | 23 Aug 1956 | Bethlehem Sparrows Point | 20 May 1957 | 25 Jun 1958 | 1 May 1959 |
| 24 | PYRO | 23 Aug 1956 | Bethlehem Sparrows Point | 21 Oct 1957 | 5 Nov 1958 | 24 Jul 1959 |
| 25 | HALEAKALA | 23 Aug 1956 | Bethlehem Sparrows Point | 10 Mar 1958 | 17 Feb 1959 | 3 Nov 1959 |
Disposition:
| AE | Name | T | Decomm | Strike | Disposal | Fate | MA Sale |
| 21 | SURIBACHI | 2 Dec 1994 | 12 Dec 1996 | 31 Mar 2000 | MA/T | 8 Jun 2009 | |
| 22 | MAUNA KEA | 30 Jun 1995 | 12 Dec 1996 | 18 Dec 1998 | MA/T | Target | |
| 23 | NITRO | 28 Apr 1995 | 14 Aug 1995 | 31 Mar 2000 | MA/T | 23 Jun 2008 | |
| 24 | PYRO | 31 May 1994 | 8 Apr 1997 | 24 Feb 2001 | MA/T | 23 Nov 2011 | |
| 25 | HALEAKALA | 10 Dec 1993 | 10 Dec 1993 | 9 Mar 1994 | MA/S | -- |
Class Notes:
On 19 May 1952 a Conference on Mobile Logistic Support recommended that four types of ship should be equipped for replenishment at sea: an oiler (AO), an ammunition ship (AE), a refrigerated stores ship (AF), and a general stores issue ship (AKS), the latter to carry technical and aviation spares (taking the place of the AKST and AVS types) in addition to the general stores of an AKS. While commercial ships could and would be modified for these functions in the event of mobilization, it was decided to base the original design for the replenishment ships included in the Navy Shipbuilding Program on Navy rather than commercial requirements and thus obtain the most favorable spacing of decks and sheer and camber. A design was then developed for a new AF (SCB 97) by BUSHIPS with George F. Sharp, Inc., acting as design agent (see the AF 58 class). The AE (SCB 114) was to be the second of the three basic replenishment prototypes (AF, AE, AKS) to be built using substantially the same hull and machinery, and the AE was to be followed by the AKS (SCB 115) and an AF (SCB 156) updated to match the AE, although neither the AKS or updated AF was built.
On 16 July 1952 the Ship Characteristics Board forwarded its first preliminary characteristics for an AE, SCB Project No. 114. The first BUSHIPS job order for design work on the new AE was issued on 18 August 1952. The SCB issued 2nd preliminary (revised) characteristics on 4 September 1952 which were approved with minor changes on 13 November 1952. Design work on the ship began within the Hull Design Branch of BUSHIPS (Code 440) on 14 November 1952. Code 440 directed that the basic hull, machinery, and design policies of the Project 97 AF would be retained where applicable, that no preliminary design would be submitted other than the early study made by George Sharp at the outset of the AF contract, and that there would be no further design agent assistance. The branch was to focus primarily on providing the fastest practicable safe rate of transfer of ammunition at sea. Cargo handling issues involving automatic tensioning winches, various types of fork lift trucks, cargo elevators, and a new type of adjustable permanent dunnage were controversial, and unfortunately the results of a major experiment with this equipment in one hold in DIAMOND HEAD (AE 19) with WHITLEY (AKA 91) as receiving ship that ran from November 1951 to October 1953 would not be available for the new design. (The experiment showed that practically all of the equipment tested needed to be redesigned.) The approved characteristics for a new construction Ammunition Ship (AE), SCB Project No. 114, were promulgated on 7 January 1953 and updated on 14 December 1955, 19 June 1957, and 26 May 1958. The AE contract drawings and specifications were signed on 12 May 1953. Initially the AEs like the AFs were to be built by the Maritime Administration and under their supervision for the exclusive use of the Navy, but on 24 July 1953, after reconsideration of his previous proposal, Code 400 recommended that the construction of these ships be handled by BUSHIPS rather than MARAD. On 25 August 1953 Code 400 recommended hiring Gibbs & Cox as design agent for the AEs, noting that the ship would have some novel installations in her including special elevators, special dunnage, constant tension winches, and other new equipment that would benefit from being handled by a fully experienced agent. As of 28 August the hull plans were being revised to remove permanent dunnage and incorporate minor changes, and the design was completed within BUSHIPS on 3 September 1953. An award for design services was made to Bethlehem Steel on 21 October 1953. Bid proposals for the two ships were to be due 29 Mar 1954.
Between 1 December 1953 and 8 January 1954 the plans and specifications were ordered modified to change from transverse to longitudinal hull framing. One objective in the design of the AF 58 hull had been that it would also be used for AEs and AKSs, and in order to provide for speedy and economical building during mobilization the structural design had followed merchant practice, i.e. transversely framed to ABS rules so that these ships could be built under MARAD supervision. Another factor was the belief of merchant ship designers that a transversely framed ship was the only feasible type from the standpoint of 'tween deck cargo stowage since the deep webs of a longitudinally framed ship would get in the way. However during the development of the contract design of AE 21-22 reports were received of certain structural deficiencies of bottom plating on a number of transversely framed merchant ships built to ABS rules. This resulted in the decision to change the design of AE 21-22 to complete ABS-approved longitudinal framing and to reinforce the bottoms of AF 58-59. A study showed that the change in framing would not reduce cargo stowage in the AEs. Since the contract plans for AE 21-22 had to be redrawn the opportunity was taken to change the stern lines to minimize vibration. The new stern lines and rudder were based on the Mariner C4-S-1a class ships. Deck heights were also changed at this time to provide even heights between decks as opposed to the AF 58-59 design which required different heights to accommodate insulation. During the development of the working plans for AE 21-22 further changes in the basic design were made to improve cargo handling, including rearranging booms, kingposts and elevators, reducing the size of some hatches, and reducing the number of holds from six to five to increase the size of the individual holds. The design work also addressed cargo stowage, fire fighting, cargo cooling, and other features directly related to the mission of the ship. [From contract design memo for Project 115 dated 15 Sep 1954]
The design of the new AE had its two forward twin 3" mounts on the centerline, and SURIBACHI and MAUNA KEA were completed with this arrangement. However trials of SURIBACHI in November 1957 showed that visibility forward from the bridge was blocked by the centerline gun and director installation on the bow, and the later three ships had the guns located athwartships, which improved visibility. All five ships originally had two more twin 3" mounts on the centerline aft, but these were soon replaced with a flight deck.
AE 21-22 had underway replenishment rigs little different from those used in World War II. AE 23-25 were completed in 1959 with a new counterweight tensioned highline rig with loadline for transferring ammunition and cargo underway that had been tested in 1956 in ALSTEDE (AF 48). The counterweights moved up and down inside the shortened and enlarged kingposts and the loadline (used to raise and lower the load) ran in parallel with the highline. The absence of vertical slots on the outboard sides of the kingposts showed that this was not a sliding block system as were the later FAST and STREAM systems. Instead the highline and the loadline were attached at the top of the kingpost through a curved hood that trained to follow the highline. When the system was evaluated on NITRO with GALVESTON (CLG 3) in November 1960 it was found that the pendulum action of the loadline, the single point of suspension of the dolly carrying the cargo (in these tests a dummy TALOS anti-air missile), and the lack of tensioned hauling lines made this system dangerous for long and heavy loads.
As of 20 November 1952 the initial FY 1955 program included two more Project 114 AEs to help build up an adequate number of AEs for use in mobile logistic task forces. On 4 September 1953 a draft FY 1955 program included one additional Project 114 AE, but the FY 1955 program recommended by CNO to SECNAV on 9 January 1954 included no auxiliaries except for four YAGRs. The FY 1956 program forwarded by CNO to SECNAV on 11 January 1955 and approved by him on 19 January 1955 included two Project 114 AEs (AE 23-24). As of 25 January 1955 Bethlehem was to bring the contract plans and specifications for a repeat Project 114 ship up to date by 1 July 1955. On 19 July 1955 CNO approved a FY 1957 program drafted on 21 April 1955 that included another Project 114 AE (AE 25). This program was returned by SECNAV in October for cost reductions, which the AE survived. Another Project 114 AE was included in a FY 1958 program proposed on 16 May 1956 and recommended by CNO to SECNAV on 23 October 1956, but SECNAV returned the program on 14 December 1956 for major reductions which removed the AE and most other auxiliaries from the program. On 20 August 1957 CNO approved a draft FY 1959 program that included one Project 114 AE (AE 26), which survived a program revision in December 1957 but was definitively dropped around 2 April 1958. In July 1958 one Project 114 AE and one Project 82 AO were dropped from the proposed FY 1960 program in favor of a second AOE, saving $2 million and providing one of the fast replenishment ships in each ocean. The two FY 1960 AOEs, however, were later slipped to FY 1961 and FY 1963.
Following a 1957 conference on mobile logistic support, CNO Burke had directed the Bureau of Ships to initiate development of a highly automated missile underway replenishment system eventually known as FAST (Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer). (See the AOE 1 class for a full description and history of FAST.) FAST was designed to transfer a surface-to-air missile from a replenishment ship to a receiving ship every 90 seconds in a shock-mitigated environment without being touched by human hands using automated handling equipment both topsides and below decks. For underway transfer gear it used a ram-tensioned sliding-block cargo transfer system called STREAM (Standard Tensioned Replenishment Alongside Method) that had first been tested in VEGA (AF 59) in 1960. (The use of ram tensioners in place of counterweights saved four fifths of the weight and cost of the older systems.) BUSHIPS conducted an at-sea evaluation in PYRO of an experimental FAST masthead receiver in February 1961, and half of a prototype M-frame for SACRAMENTO (AOE 1) and MARS (AFS 1) reminiscent of the one tested in VEGA was then mounted just forward of the bridge of HALEAKALA during a regular overhaul in December 1961-February 1962 and tested in transfers at sea in March 1962. A prototype AE FAST delivery station, still resembling half of a M-frame, was installed on PYRO just forward of her bridge at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in Sep-Oct 1963. A deadline of September 1964 was set for the development of a proven FAST concept for the AE 21/23 class conversion. Approved characteristics for the conversion of ammunition ships (AE 21-23 class), SCB Project No. 232, were promulgated on 15 January 1962 and updated for Ammunition Ship (AE FAST) conversion in FY 1964 on 1 April 1963 with a final change on 23 June 1966. The final AE FAST transfer station design used a kingpost pair rather than the M-frame of the larger AOE and AFS. In the five AEs the forward and after kingpost pairs were converted for FAST while the original middle one was retained, giving them four FAST (STREAM) stations. In April 1963 SURIBACHI entered the yard of the Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. at Baltimore for conversion to a FAST ammunition ship (AE FAST), and at the same time she received a helicopter platform on her fantail enabling her to conduct vertical replenishments for the fleet. She was placed back in full commission on 15 December 1965. The other four ships also received this SCB 232 conversion in FY 1963 and FY 1964 as indicated below, although the last ship, PYRO, did not complete conversion until 1968.
The FAST system proved to be a maintenance nightmare and in 1968 a simplified version of FAST in which all below deck FAST automated handling systems were bypassed (forklift trucks being used instead) was tested in HALEAKALA. This led in 1970 to adoption of a STREAM system that reused as much already-installed FAST equipment as possible while omitting most of the FAST automated mechanisms. The time to transfer missiles increased from 90 seconds to a still acceptable five minutes. The new STREAM system proved to be highly reliable and easily maintained and is still in use in 2022.
Ship Notes:
| AE | Name | MA | Notes |
| 21 | SURIBACHI | FY 1954. FAST conversion, SCB 232.63, ord 21 Jun 1963, Maryland SB/DD, start 1 Apr 1964, compl 15 Dec 1965 (completed fitting out and recomm). To MA custody 14 Dec 1999. Departed MA custody 17 Jun 2009 under sales contract with International Shipbreakers LLC of Brownsville, TX. | |
| 22 | MAUNA KEA | FY 1954. FAST conversion, SCB 232.64, ord 26 Mar 1964, Lockheed, Seattle, start 1 Mar 1965, compl 3 Jun 1966. To MA custody 2 Mar 1998. MA accepted title 18 Dec 1998. Towed from Concord, CA to Pearl in May 2006 for SINKEX, sunk as target 12 Jul 2006 off Kauai, Hawaii, during RIMPAC 2006. | |
| 23 | NITRO | FY 1956. FAST conversion, SCB 232.64, ord 26 Mar 1964, Maryland SB/DD, start 5 Mar 1965, recomm & compl 31 Aug 1967. To MA custody 9 Feb 2000. Departed MA custody for scrapping by ESCO Marine at Brownsville 23 Jul 2008. | |
| 24 | PYRO | FY 1956. FAST conversion, SCB 232.64, ord 26 Mar 1964, Lockheed, delayed, start 12 Feb 1968, deliv 7 Nov 1968. To MA custody 17 Aug 2000. Departed MA custody 24 Jan 2012 under domestic sale to EMR's Southern Recycling in New Orleans, LA. | |
| 25 | HALEAKALA | FY 1957. FAST conversion, SCB 232.63, ord 21 Jun 1963, Todd Seattle [Puget Sound Bridge and Dredge], start 28 Feb 1964, compl 26 Apr 1965. Ship decomm. at Guam and MA was asked to sell her there outside its usual process. MA on 9 Mar 1994 reported the sale, release to the buyer was authorized on 29 Mar 1994, and the ship was towed out of Guam on 15 Apr 1994. |
Page Notes:
Compiled: 22 July 2021
© Stephen S. Roberts, 2021
Special sources: NARA: RG 19 Entry P 62 Boxes 6-7 and 94; Marvin O. Miller, Designing the U.S. Navy's Underway Replenishment System, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, Cal., 1996