This site is dedicated to my

Father

Virgil Wray

and all the other heroic young men that sailed on the fleet of US Navy Oilers during World War II.

       From the oiler U.S.S. Neosho AO-23 that was on battle ship row that morning in 1941. The bravery and courage that was displayed that morning by the crew as it pulled together to save their ship. What must have been going through the minds of those young men as the bombs were being dropped all around them, as the mighty battleships berth next to them were pummeled to scrap.

       Then this same ship, one of only a handfull of oilers in the Pacific fleet, sailed with the Coral Sea Task Force. This ship fueled and supplied the cruisers, destroyer, and aircraft carries the US Navy had left of the pacific fleet. When it came time to find the enemy it was decided that the oiler was too important to risk so it was left behind with a destroyer in safe waters.

       Of course being war nothing is safe. The Jap fighter plans that were looking for the American fleet spotted these two ships and thought they were part of the main task force. This sent the whole might of the Jap forces after these ships giving more time for the US to take action without being detected. The bravery of these two crews was not released for 46 years.

       The loss of this oiler was two fold, one it bought the US fleet time to find and strike a crippling blow to the Jap Navy. The other part was it put the war effort to take back the land that the Japs had conquered by about 6 Months. How many more people on both sides died because of this one ship was not there to help supply the fleet?

       One of the biggest quirks of fate was by delaying the progress of the war effort the US did not have to invade Japan. How many more people would have been killed if the invasion had to take place. In fact how many people would not have been born, on both sides, without this ships sacrifice?

       To the ship my father served on the USS PONAGANSET AO-86 . This ship endured kamikaze attacks, a typhoon that sunk four Navy vessels, and brought much need supplies to the war effort.

       This ship after the war ended broke in two when it was dock and being work on by a welding torch. It was found out many years later that the steel had so many impurities that when the steel got cold, below 50 degrees, it turned brittle. In fact it was a problem that all steel ships would develop cracks and would need repairs. It was thought that the problem was in the assembly of the ships, not the steel. Before this time all ships were riveted together and this would stop any cracks from spreading so the problem was ignored and lived with. This would be the first time that ships were welded together.and there would be no way for the crack to stop and the ship would break in half. How many of these ships were sent to the bottom in the North Atlantic after a sub attack because of this problem.

       In the following pages there are stories of heroic deeds by men who served on these oilers and other ships of the US Navy.