Namakagon (AOG-53)
1945-1976
A river in the state of Wisconsin.
(AOG-53: displacement 1,841 (Iight); l.ength 310'9"-; beam 48'6"; draft 15'8"; Speed 14.0 knots; complement 124; armament 4 3-inch, 12 20 millimeter; class Patapsco)
Namakagon (AOG-53) was laid down on 1 August 1944 at Savage, Minn., by Cargill, Inc., launched on 4 November 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Alfred J. Scobba; and commissioned on 18 June 1945, Lt. (j.g.) Milton R. High, D-M, USNR, in command.
The gasoline tanker Namakagon completed her Gulf Coast shakedown and, having filled her tanks at Baytown, Texas, departed for the Pacific, on 19 July 1945. She arrived at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, as hostilities in the Pacific ceased and on 20 August continued on to Midway. Based at Pearl Harbor, she carried fuel to various islands of the Pacific, including Johnston, Canton, Marcus, Truk, Guam, Saipan, Okinawa, Peleliu, and Kyushu, for over 18 months, then returned to the west coast.
In early June, 1947, Namakagon completed overhaul at San Pedro, Calif., and on the 9th steamed north to her new homeport of Kodiak, Alaska. From there and from ports in Washington, she carried passengers and mixed cargo as she operated a gasoline provisioning shuttle to naval bases and stations on the coast and in the Aleutians. Detached from Kodiak in 1953, she returned to Pearl Harbor, whence she operated until June 1957. She then sailed to Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, Calif., where she was decommissioned on 20 September 1957, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet.
On 27 June 1962, custody of Namakagon was transferred to the Commandant, Twelfth Naval District for activation, following which, she was transferred, under the Military Aid Program, to the Royal New Zealand Navy, on 5 October 1962.- Commissioned as HMNZS Endeavour (A-184), an Antarctic supply ship, she delivered fuel to research bases on the seventh continent, bringing over 1 million gallons each year to McMurdo Sound alone since 1963.
Decommissioned and retuirned to U.S. custody in 1971, the ship was transferred to the government of Taiwan under the Security Assistance Program. being renamed Lung Chuan (AOG-507). She was uiltimately decommissioned at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on 1 April 2005.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
2 April 2024
