USS ''Milwaukee'' (AOR-2) was a commissioned by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

in 1969. She continued to support Navy requirements until 1994 when she was placed in the reserve fleet and later struck.

History

''Milwaukee'' was laid down on 29 November 1966 and launched on 1 January 1969 at the shipyard of the

General Dynamics Corporation General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

. On 1 November 1969 she was commissioned USS ''Milwaukee'' (AOR-2) and placed into service for the fleet.

Operational service

During the Vietnam War USS ''Milwaukee'' participated in operation Vietnam Ceasefire from 12 November 1972 through 20 February 1973. ''Milwaukee'' earned one campaign star for Vietnam War service. In September 1976, returning from a routine deployment, ''Milwaukee'' along with had the honor of transporting the world-famous King Tutankhamun Exhibition to the United States for the

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. In September and October 1977 ''Milwaukee'' sailed on separate 3-week deployments to the

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in support of Atlantic Fleet

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, with port calls at

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Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and

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. On 1 March 1980 the Malaysian oil tanker ''Santo Prestige'' lost power and collided with ''Milwaukee'' which was moored in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. The collision results in a gash in the hull of ''Milwaukee''. In 1985 ''Milwaukee'' participated in the anti-submarine exercise Arctic Sharem.

Decommissioning

On 27 January 1994 ''Milwaukee'' was decommissioned and struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 8 April 1997. On 15 January 2009, ''Milwaukee'' was sold for $56,410 for scrapping to Bay Bridge Enterprises, Chesapeake, Virginia.

References

* Wichita-class replenishment oilers Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts 1969 ships {{US-mil-ship-stub