View source for USS Cacapon

{{short description|Cimarron-class oiler}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{RefImprove|date=May 2023}}
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|Ship image= [[Image:Cacapon (AO-52).JPG|300px|USS Cacapon]]
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1973}}
|Ship name= USS ''Cacapon''
|Ship namesake=[[Cacapon River]] in West Virginia
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder= [[Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation]], [[Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard]], [[Sparrows Point]], [[Maryland]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down= 
|Ship launched=12 June 1943
|Ship sponsor= Mrs. A. V. Doherty
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=
|Ship acquired= 21 September 1943
|Ship commissioned= 21 September 1943
|Ship decommissioned= August 1973
|Ship struck= August 1973
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|Ship honours=
|Ship fate= Sold for scrap
|Ship notes=
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class= [[Cimarron class oiler (1939)|''Cimarron''-class]] [[Oiler (ship)|oiler]]
|Ship type=T3-S2-A3 tanker hull
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|7236|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} light
* {{convert|25440|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full load
|Ship length={{convert|553|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|75|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=Geared turbines, twin screws, {{convert|30400|shp|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship speed={{convert|18|kn|mph km/h|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=314
|Ship capacity= 146,000 barrels
|Ship armament=*1 × [[5"/38 caliber gun|{{convert|5|in|mm|abbr=on}}/38 cal. gun]]
* 4 × [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}/50 cal. guns]]
* 4 × twin [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm]] AA guns
* 4 × twin [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm]] AA guns
|Ship armor=
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{{Infobox service record
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|operations=[[World War II]], [[Korean War]], [[Vietnam War]]
|victories=
|awards=* 4 [[Naval Star Awards|battle stars]] and [[Navy Unit Commendation]] (World War II)
* 9 battle stars (Korea)
}}
|}
'''USS ''Cacapon'' (AO-52)''' was a [[T3 Tanker|T3]] {{sclass|Cimarron|fleet oiler}} acquired by the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] during [[World War II]]. She served her country primarily in the [[Pacific Ocean]] Theater of Operations, and provided [[petroleum]] products where needed to combat ships. For performing this dangerous task, she was awarded [[battle stars]] and citations during World War II, the [[Korean War]], and the [[Vietnam War]].

''Cacapon'' was launched 12 June 1943 at [[Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard]], [[Sparrows Point, Maryland]], under a [[United States Maritime Commission|Maritime Commission]] contract; sponsored by Mrs. A. V. Doherty; acquired by the Navy 21 September 1943; and commissioned the same day.
The name is derived from a [[Shawnee language|Shawnee]] word meaning "medicine waters".<ref>{{cite book|last=Kenny|first=Hamill|title=West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009099824;view=1up;seq=173|year=1945|publisher=The Place Name Press|location=Piedmont, WV|pages=146–147}}</ref> [[Cacapon River]] and [[Cacapon Mountain]] are in West Virginia.

== World War II Pacific Theatre operations ==
On 22 October 1943 ''Cacapon'' sailed from [[Norfolk, Virginia]], to load fuel at [[Aruba]] in the [[West Indies]] en route to [[Pearl Harbor]], where she arrived 12 November. On 30 November she rendezvoused with the [[United States Fifth Fleet|U.S. 5th Fleet]] to deliver fuel at sea to the ships carrying out the [[Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign|Gilbert Islands operation]]. After a west coast overhaul, she returned to [[Pearl Harbor]], from which she sailed 3 February 1944 to carry her vital logistic support to [[task force]] TF-50, then engaged in the [[Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign|Marshall Islands operation]]. She carried fuel on which all modern naval warfare depends to units of the [[United States Third Fleet|U.S. 3rd Fleet]] from March into May, as the mighty task forces sent their strikes against [[Rabaul]], [[Kavieng]], [[Nissan Island|Green]], [[Emirau]], and the [[Admiralties]]. During a part of this period, she served temporarily with the [[United States Seventh Fleet|U.S. 7th Fleet]]'s service support group for the [[New Guinea]] operation.

''Cacapon'' served as station tanker successively at [[Efate]] and [[Espiritu Santo]], [[New Hebrides]]; [[Purvis Bay|Port Purvis]] on [[Nggela Islands|Florida Island]] in the [[Solomon Islands|Solomons]]; and [[Manus Island|Manus]], [[Admiralty Islands]], until 8 January, when she cleared Manus for [[Ulithi]]. Here she reported to the 3rd Fleet, and between 12 and 27 January her operations supported task force TF-38 during its series of strikes against [[Luzon]] and [[Taiwan|Formosa]] supporting the Philippine attacks and consolidation. ''Cacapon'' lengthened the list of operations to which she had given vital support as she steamed with the 5th Fleet during the [[Battle of Iwo Jima|Iwo Jima operation]], from 15 to 26 February, and the [[Battle of Okinawa|Okinawa operation]] from 24 March to 30 June. Between these, she served briefly as station tanker in [[San Pedro Bay (Philippines)|San Pedro Bay]], [[Philippine Islands]].

== End-of-war activity ==
''Cacapon'' brought her essential aid to the 3rd Fleet in its final devastating air attacks and bombardments on the Japanese home islands in July 1945, and on 20 September entered [[Tokyo Bay]]. Ten days later she cleared for [[San Pedro, California]], arriving for overhaul 11 October. She returned to the [[Far East]] in December, providing support to occupation forces with a shuttle service between [[Yokohama]], Japan, and [[Shanghai]] and [[Qingdao]], China.

== Running aground in the Persian Gulf ==
In April 1946 she sailed to [[Bahrain]] in the [[Persian Gulf]] to load oil for delivery to [[Kwajalein]] [[Atoll]], where her cargo was to be used during [[Operation Crossroads]]. However, on the first day at sea, 24 April, she ran on [[Shah Allum Shoal]] in the Persian Gulf. While the current pulled her clear, her engine and fire rooms began to flood and all power was lost. Aided by {{SS|Fort Erie}}, {{SS|Fort Stanwick}}, and {{USS|Chikaskia|AO-54}}, ''Cacapon'' put back to Bahrain for temporary repairs, and proceeded to [[San Pedro, California]], for permanent repairs.

== Supporting Antarctic operations ==
On 2 December 1946, ''Cacapon'' cleared San Pedro, California, for 10 weeks in the [[Antarctic]] in [[Operation Highjump]]. She called at [[Sydney]], Australia, en route [[Long Beach, California]], returning home 8 April 1947. Between 1947 and 1950 she cruised in the Pacific on two extended Far Eastern tours.

== Korean War operations ==
Far Eastern operations continued to be the rule for ''Cacapon'' when war broke out in [[Korea]] in June 1950; she completed four lengthy tours of duty there during the three years of fighting. Sailing with the [[United States Seventh Fleet|U.S. 7th Fleet]] and the [[Formosa Patrol Force]], she carried fuel and supplies to these sea forces. On her first tour, during which she helped to support the [[Amphibious warfare|amphibious]] landing at [[Inchon]] on 15 September 1950, she earned the [[Navy Unit Commendation]] for her high performance of duty.

From the end of hostilities in Korea through 1960, ''Cacapon'' made six more Far Eastern tours, continuing to sail with the 7th Fleet and the Taiwan Patrol Force.  In 1958 she served as the oiler replenishing the ships in Operation Hardtack, which conducted nuclear bomb tests in the lagoons of Bikini and Eniwetok, Marshall Islands.

== Vietnam War operations ==
During her 1955 tour she took part in the evacuation of the [[Tachen Islands]] from 6 to 14 February, and the [[Vietnam]] evacuation "[[Operation Passage to Freedom]]" of 6 to 15 March. From February to August 1958, she joined in [[Operation Hardtack I]] at [[Bikini Atoll]]. The intervals between deployments have found her operating locally from [[Long Beach, California]].

=== Murder of Andrew Muns ===
''Cacapon'' was the site of the 1968 strangulation of Ensign Andrew Muns. He was murdered after uncovering a theft of $8,600 from the ship's safe by Michael LeBrun.  The Navy initially branded Ensign Muns the thief and accused him of deserting with the stolen cash. At the insistence of the Muns' family, the case was reopened by [[Naval Criminal Investigative Service|NCIS]] in 1998 and a subsequent [[cold case]] investigation led to Michael LeBrun.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-05-29 |title=NCIS agents vow to solve "unsolvable" cold case and restore a sailor's honor |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-ncis-agents-vow-to-solve-unsolvable-cold-case-and-restore-a-sailors-honor/ |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> After a lengthy interrogation, LeBrun confessed to the murder and to disposing of the body by throwing Ensign Muns into one of the oiler's massive fuel tanks.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-09-08 |title=Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in '68 killing |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9258759 |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> The body was never recovered.

== Final decommissioning ==
She was decommissioned, and struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy List]] in August 1973 and transferred to the [[United States Maritime Administration|Maritime Administration]] for disposal. Her final disposition was to be sold for scrapping (date unknown) to Zidell Exploration [[Portland, Oregon]].

== Awards ==
''Cacapon'' received four [[battle stars]] for World War II service, and the [[Navy Unit Commendation]] and nine [[battle stars]] for [[Korean War]] service.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c1/cacapon.htm}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
| last = Wildenberg
| first = Thomas
| year = 1996
| url = http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/GSBO/index.html
| title = Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912–1995
| location = Annapolis, Maryland
| publisher = Naval Institute Press
| access-date = 2009-04-28
}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/19/19052.htm NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive – AO-52 Cacapon]
{{clear}}
{{Cimarron class oiler (1939)}}
{{Type T3-S2-A tankers}}
{{November 1944 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cacapon (AO-52)}}
[[Category:Cimarron-class oilers (1939)]]
[[Category:Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland]]
[[Category:1943 ships]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:World War II tankers of the United States]]
[[Category:Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Korean War auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Vietnam War auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1944]]