Cache (AO-67)
1942-1986
A river in Arkansas.
(AO-67: displacement 5,730 tons; length 523'6"; beam 68'; draft 30'10"; speed 15 knots; cargo capacity 120,400 barrels oil, 575,000 gallons gasoline; complement 225; armament 1 5-inch gun, 4 3-inch guns, 8 twin 40 millimeter; class Suamico; type T2-SE-A1)
Cache (AO-67) was launched 7 September 1942 as Stillwater by Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pa., under a Maritime Commission contract (MC Hull No. 328); sponsored by Mrs. J. Cook; acquired by the Navy on 28 September 1942; converted at Maryland Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Baltimore, Md.; commissioned on 3 November 1942,, Lt. Cmdr. P. Anderson, USNR, in command.
From 11 December 1942 to 25 February 1943, Cache , initially assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, carried oil from Gulf ports to Norfolk, Va., and Argentia, Newfoundland. She cleared Norfolk on 19 March for Baytown, Tex., where she loaded diesel oil for Bora Bora, Society Islands, and Noumea. She returned from the South Pacific to San Pedro, Calif., for repairs on 26 May.
Returning to Noumea on 8 July 1943, Cache operated between Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal until 4 August. Duty as station tanker at Efate and Espiritu Santo continued into December, when she sailed to refuel ships at sea. While returning to Espiritu Santo on 22 January 1944, Cache was struck in the port side by a torpedo fired by the Japanese submarine RO-37 (Lt. Sato Sakuma, commanding, that had departed Truk on 3 January on her second war patrol). One man was killed, and Cache suffered severe damage, but was able to make port under her own power. Lt. Sato and his crew, did not get to reflect upon their success for long. Destroyer Buchanan (DD-484), en route to Purvis Bay, Florida Island, from Espiritu Santo, picked up the oiler's report of being torpedoed and speeds to the scene, catching RO-37 on the surface at the outset but carrying out depth charge attacks over the ensuing hours once the enemy boat precipitately submerges. Buchanan sights floating debris the next morning, mute testimony to the attacks that destroyed RO-37 with all hands, 61 souls all told.
After temporary repairs, Cache sailed for San Pedro, Calif., for permanent repairs. Cache returned to duty at Eniwetok on 20 June 1944 to begin almost continuous participation in the operations that forced the Japanese back across the Pacific to their homeland and ended the war. First came the Marianas operation, including the capture of Tinian, for which she fueled ships at sea in July and August 1944. Based at Manus from 26 August, Cache provided essential fuel for the attacks on, and invasion of, the western Caroline Islands, then based at Kossol Roads and Ulithi to support the ships which brought the war back to the Philippines in the assaults on Leyte and Luzon in fall and winter 1944-45. Continuing to operate from Ulithi, she fueled TF 51 for the invasion of Iwo Jima, then put to sea for the task force raids that prepared the way for, and supported, the Okinawa operation. Later she operated in Okinawan waters, bringing fuel through the hazards of kamikaze attacks unscathed. She ended her war service in July 1945 as she sailed with the Third Fleet in its final strikes against the Japanese home islands. After carrying fuel to Tokyo Bay in September, she returned to the west coast.
Decommissioned at San Francisco, Calif,., on 14 January 1946, Cache was transferred to the Maritime Commission and placed in the Reserve Fleet berthing area at Suisun Bay, Calif., on 30 June 1946. Withdrawn from the reserve fleet on 22 October 1947, she was delivered to Pacific Tankers, Inc., at 1130 that day. Reacquired by the Navy on 10 February 1948, however, Cache was assigned to the Naval Transportation Service, her identification number becoming T-AO-67. She carried oil from Bahrein to Japan and the west coast until 1 October 1949, when she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS). She continued to operate in a noncommissioned status with MSTS until she was taken out of service and moved into Maritime Administration custody, being added to the Reserve Fleet berthing area at Beaumont, Texas, at 1030 on 6 May 1972. The veteran oiler was finally stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 March 1986.
Sold for scrapping to Goldwils, U.S.A., Inc., of Brownsville, Texas, on 18 November 1986, in exchange for Mormacdawn, ex-Cache was re-sold on 2 February 1987 by Eastern Overseas, Inc., to the First Copper & Iron Industrial Co., Ltd., a corporation based in the Republic of China, to be broken up in Taiwan.
Cache received eight battle stars for her World War II service.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
2 June 2016
