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Photo # NH 83897:  USS Abatan off the Mare Island Navy Yard, 18 February 1945

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Abatan (AW-4), 1945-1980

USS Abatan, a 22,350-ton (full load displacement) Pasig class water distilling ship, was built at Sausalito, California, as a Maritime Commission T2-SE-A2 tanker. In the expectation that she would become a Navy oiler, she received the hull number AO-92 in July 1944, but was redesignated AW-4 about a month later and completed for water supply purposes. Abatan was commissioned in late January 1945 and soon went to the central Pacific. Beginning in March she was stationed at Ulithi Atoll, in the Caroline Islands, providing fresh water to the fleet during the final months of the war against Japan. In October 1945, after the end of hostilities, she moved westwards, initially to the Philippines, then to Okinawa and Shanghai, China, where she served between November 1945 and early May 1946. Her next assignment was at Eniwetok and Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands, where she supported the Operation "Crossroads" nuclear weapons tests. In July and August 1946 Abatan steamed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal.

Decommissioned and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia in January 1947, Abatan was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in July 1960 and transferred to the Maritime Administration. However, when deteriorating relations between Cuba and the United States resulted in the termination of fresh water supplies to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Abatan was reacquired by the Navy in late September 1962. She spent over a decade and a half at Guantanamo Bay, serving in non-commissioned status as a water storage and distilling vessel, with some of this work continuing even after she was again stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in May 1970. Abatan was finally disposed of, as a target, in early 1980.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have related to Abatan (AW-4).

For more images concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Abatan (AW-4) -- Stationed at Guantanamo Bay, 1962-1980.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 83897

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 February 1945.
    Her camouflage is Measure 32, Design 7AO.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 620 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 83896

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 February 1945.
    Her camouflage is Measure 32, Design 7AO.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 625 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 83895

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 February 1945.
    Her camouflage is Measure 32, Design 7AO.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 620 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 83898

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 February 1945.
    The harbor tug Nepanet (YTB-189) is alongside.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 625 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98913

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 February 1945.
    Circles mark recent alterations to the ship.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98914

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    View of the ship's after portion, taken the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 February 1945.
    Circles mark recent alterations to the ship.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 620 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98912

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    Plan view looking forward from the midships' superstructure, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 February 1945.
    Circles mark recent alterations to the ship.
    Note hoses stowed by the centerline catwalk, and booms attached to the foremast.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 143KB; 600 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98910

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    Plan view looking forward toward the midships' superstructure, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 February 1945.
    Circles mark recent alterations to the ship.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 126KB; 600 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98911

    USS Abatan (AW-4)


    Plan view looking aft from amidships, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 February 1945.
    Circles mark recent alterations to the ship.
    Note motor launches, winches, cargo booms and other equipment.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 165KB; 600 x 765 pixels

     

    For more images concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Abatan (AW-4) -- Stationed at Guantanamo Bay, 1962-1980.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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    Page made 28 October 2003