Naval History and Heritage Command

The Hassayampa River (Yavapai: Hasaya:mvo or ʼHasayamcho) is an intermittent river flowing south from its headwaters near Prescott, Arizona. It is a tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 113 miles long and drains a 1,410 square-mile, mostly desert watershed. Its flow is mainly underground. The name means “the river that flows upside down,” and local legend states that anyone who drinks from it can never again tell the truth.

(AO-145: displacement 11,600; length 655'0"; beam 86'0"; draft 35'0"; speed 20.0 knots; complement 324; armament 2 5-inch, 6 3-inch; class Neosho)

Hassayampa (AO-145) was laid down on 13 July 1953 at Camden, N.J. by the New York Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 12 September 1954, sponsored by Mrs. Jean H. Holloway, wife of Vice Admiral Holloway, Jr., Chief of Naval Personnel; and commissioned on 15 April 1955, Capt. William V. McKaig in command.

After her East Coast shakedown, Hassayampa transited the Panama Canal and joined the Service Force, Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 15 July 1955. From then until May 1958, she made three deployments to the Western Pacific, supporting Seventh Fleet operations. In June 1958, she joined First Fleet celebrations in San Francisco, marking the 50th Anniversary of the Great White Fleet's around-the-world cruise. Hassayampa resumed her regular duties at Pearl Harbor on 16 July.

She deployed with the Seventh Fleet in September 1958 to prevent the invasion of Chinese offshore islands by communist forces during the Quemoy-Matsu Crisis. She also convoyed Nationalist Chinese transports away from the mainland. Between 1959 and 1961, Hassayampa made three more Seventh Fleet deployments to the Western Pacific. In May 1962, she supported the Seventh Fleet deployment of marines into Thailand due to unrest in Laos.

On 23 January 1963, Hassayampa again deployed to the Far East with the Seventh Fleet. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 June and underwent a modernization overhaul there between October 1963 and January 1964. She sailed to the Western Pacific on 12 March 1964, and on the 31st, she joined “The First Concord Squadron,” a detached expeditionary force centered on  the attack carrier Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). It steamed from Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, to the Indian Ocean on a mission of peace and goodwill.

The squadron transited the narrow Straits of Malacca and became the first United States Task Force to patrol the waters of the Indian Ocean since the mid-1950s. Hassayampa returned to Subic Bay on 16 May 1964, having served with the Concord Squadron from Malaysia to the East African coast.

Remaining in the Far East, Hassayampa fueled ships off Japan and in the South China Sea. During the Gulf of Tonkin Crisis in August 1964, she provided at-sea logistic support for the Seventh Fleet. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 29 September. In April 1965, she returned to the South China Sea in support of US forces in and off South Vietnam, including Operation Market Time, in cooperation with the South Vietnamese Navy, to intercept the flow of enemy supplies from North Vietnam.

After returning to Pearl Harbor on 16 December 1965, Hassayampa served as a recovery logistics ship for the Gemini 8 space shot in March 1966 and the Gemini 9 voyage in early June. She sailed again for the Far East on 5 June and refueled Seventh Fleet carriers and escorts for the next five months. In two weeks in November 1966, she fueled 67 ships, and by the time she sailed for home on 16 December, she had fueled 367. During this deployment, Hassayampa had a minor refueling collision in July with the destroyer Vogelsang (DD-862) that required minor repairs to the oiler at Subic Bay.

She served as a replenishment ship during the 1969 Apollo 11 recovery mission. She fueled antisubmarine warfare support carrier Hornet (CVS-12) just before that ship recovered command module Columbia on 24 July. She also participated in Hornet’s recovery of the Apollo 12 command module Yankee Clipper on 24 November.

Hassayampa returned to Southeast Asia between 1967 and 1973, serving in eight campaigns up to and including the ceasefire and withdrawal of American forces.

During this period, she was caught up in the racial, civil rights, and anti-Vietnam War tensions roiling American society. On 16 October 1972, 12 African American sailors from Hassayampa refused to sail with the ship from Subic Bay. They demanded the return of money allegedly stolen from one of them. Leadership failed to defuse the situation, and a group of seven white sailors was attacked and beaten. A marine detachment restored order and six black sailors were charged with assault and rioting. A similar racial confrontation had taken place in Subic Bay on board Kitty Hawk (CV-63) on 12 October, resulting in courts-martial for 26 black sailors. Saratoga (CVA-16), and Constellation (CVA-64) also had serious outbreaks of racial strife over the next month. These events resulted in a major review and overhaul of Navy operations and considerations regarding racial justice and equal treatment.

Hassayampa was ordered in August 1973 to support two Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships, USNS Corpus Christi Bay (T-ARVH-1) and USNS Wheeling (T-AGM-8) in observing French nuclear tests on Mururoa Atoll, 750 miles southeast of Tahiti. Refueling operations occurred at Pago Pago, American Samoa, between 6 and 11 August. Hassayampa returned from Pearl Harbor on 6 September to repeat the refueling support, meeting the MSC ships at sea for a difficult underway replenishment operation.

Decommissioned on 17 November 1978 and transferred to MSC, she re-entered service as USNS Hassayampa (T-AO-145) and operated worldwide for 12 years. Between 1981 and 1983, she assisted in the at-sea rescue of 211 Vietnamese refugees and assisted in search and salvage efforts for Korean Air Lines Flight 007, shot down off Sakhalin by a Soviet Air Defense Forces Sukhoi SU-15 interceptor. In November 1984, Hassayampa participated in FleetEx ’85, a major exercise involving five carrier battlegroups and sixty-five ships from several countries. During the exercise, she encountered a giant wave that caused significant damage and injured three crewmen. In 1990 and 1991, she provided underway replenishment services for the Navy during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Hassayampa was again decommissioned on 2 October 1991 and placed in the Susin Bay Reserve Fleet at 1140 on 14 November 1991. On 7 November 1994, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register to await disposal. The Maritime Administration received her title on 1 May 1999, and after clearance from the California State Historic Preservation Office, she was sold for scrap in April 2014. She left Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 11 June 2014 and arrived for scrapping on 26 June at All-Star Metals in Brownsville, Texas.

Hassayampa received one star on her Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for Vietnam service: Vietnam Advisory Campaign (5 August 1964-30 June 1965). She also received 14 stars on her Vietnam Service Medal: Vietnam Defense (18 July 1965-24 November 1965); Vietnam Counteroffensive (28-30 June 1966); Vietnamese Counteroffensive, Phase II (1 July-13 November 1966); Vietnamese Counteroffensive, Phase III (19 October 1967-29 January 1968); Tet Counteroffensive (30 January-1 April 1968); Vietnamese Counteroffensive, Phase IV (2-6 April 1968); Vietnamese Counteroffensive, Phase VI (20 November 1968-28 February 1969); Tet 69/Counteroffensive (12 March-17 April 1969); Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970 (11 January-30 April 1970); Sanctuary Counteroffensive (1-27 May 1970); Vietnamese Counteroffensive, Phase VII (9 March-27 June 1971); Consolidation I (10-15 July 1971); Consolidation II (13-19 March 1972); Vietnam Ceasefire (30 March 1972-25 January 1973).