Navy Oilers derived their names from Cities and the Streams shown in yellow.

View ship details through link on ship number
AO = Fleet Oiler Ship.       AOE = Fast Support Ship.      AOR = Replenishment Fleet Ship.
Ship Name

Ship Number
NavSource Link


River Name

USS Kalamazoo AOR-6 Launched,
1 Nov. 1972
Kalamazoo is the largest city in the southwest region of Michigan. The city is named for the 166 mile long Kalamazoo River, it is generally thought the name originates in the language of either the Potawatomi or Odawa peoples who were native to the area. The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. The village of Bronson was renamed Kalamazoo in 1836. On August 27, 1856, Abraham Lincoln spoke at a rally in Kalamazoo's Bronson Park, promoting the presidential candidacy of John C. Fremont, who was running on the ticket of the newly formed Republican Party.

The Kalamazoo river region was a stomping ground for this web sites author, Fennville.

Another ship of this name was
USS Kalamazoo (AOG-30),  a Mettawee-class gasoline tanker.
USS Detroit AOE-4 Launched,
21 June 1969

Detroit is the largest city in Michigan, (French: Détroit, meaning "strait"). Detroit is a major port city on the 32 mile long Detroit River. It was founded in 1701 by the Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. The river name is a reference to the fact that the river connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie. However, it is not a strait by definition. The boundary between Canada and the United States of America passes through the river lengthwise. Its elevation is 579 feet (175 m) above sea level.

USS Kankakee AO-39 See
Corn Country

USS Tippacanoe

USNS Tippacanoe

5 June 1920

16 May 1992

The Tippecanoe River is a gentle, 225 mile long river in northern Indiana. It is considered the river of lakes, as it is fed by 88 natural lakes. It has a drainage area of 1.25 million acres, spanning 14 counties. The Miami and Shawnee Indians named this river Kithtippecanunk, or "place of the buffalo fish," which still can be found in the Tippecanoe River. The first USS Tippecanoe - a Canonicus class monitor was launched on 22 December 1864.

USS Wabash AOR-5 Launched,
1 Feb. 1971
The Wabash River is a 475 mi long river that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near St. Henry, Ohio across northern Indiana to Illinois where it forms the southern Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River. It is the longest stretch of free-flowing river in the United States east of the Mississippi River. The name "Wabash" is an English spelling of the French name for the river, "Ouabache." French traders named the river after the Miami Indian word for the river, waapaahšiiki, meaning "bright white" or "gleaming white." It refers to the limestone bed of the stream along its upper course.
USS Salamonie AO-26 Launched,
18 Sept. 1940
The Salamonie River is a tributary of the Wabash River, 82 mi long, in eastern Indiana. The name Salamonie was derived from the Native American word "O-sah-mo-nee," which means "yellowpaint."
USS Mississinewa

USS Mississinewa

28 March 1944

12 June 1954

The Mississinewa River is a tributary of the Wabash River in eastern Indiana and a small portion of western Ohio in the United States. It is about 100 mi long. During the War of 1812, the river was the site of the Battle of the Mississinewa, which pitted United States forces against the Miami Indians.
Near the rivers mouth dam causes the river to form Mississinewa Lake.

USS Patoka AO-9 Launched,
17 Dec. 1918

The Patoka River is a tributary of the Wabash River, approximately 138 mi long, in southwestern Indiana. It drains a largely rural area of forested bottomland and agricultural lands among the hills north of Evansville. It is said the name means "Log on Bottom". Patoka is the oldest town in Gibson county. One of the towns the author of this web site worked on in the 1960's was Patoka, Illinois. View: Everything Patoka. Patoka was a fleet oiler made famous as a tender for the airships USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) and USS Akron (ZRS-4).

USNS Logan's Fort

TAO-160 Launched,
30 March 1945
Stanford, a city in Lincoln County, is the second oldest settlement in Kentucky, founded in 1775.
The city was settled by Benjamin Logan and became known as Logan's Fort or St. Asaph. One story of the naming of the town is that it comes from Standing Fort, a name that might have been used for the station. It may also have been named for Stamford, England. The site of the original fort is about one mile west of the courthouse at the center of town, in land now overrun and abandoned. The term "Fort Logan" is still used to this day to name local businesses, including the local Fort Logan Hospital. The main street of the town was built on what was originally a buffalo trail.
USS Adair


APA-91 Launched,
29 Feb. 1944
Adair provided an alternate service during WWII; she had a fluid cargo space large enough to keep it moving for miles allowed her to share her fuel with other ships once in a while. Adair was named for John Adair, a general in the War of 1812, and the eighth Governor of Kentucky and a U. S. Senator. This is also the ship that the author’s uncle, Linn E. Sheckler served as a RM2.
USS Maumee

USNS Maumee

17 April 1915

15 Nov. 1955

The Maumee River is in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana and meanders northeastwardly for about 130 mi through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the Maumee BayLake Erie at the city of Toledo, Ohio. Historically the river was also known as the "Miami" and in treaties with Native Americans, and as early as 1671 the river was called Miami of the Lake (in contrast to the "Miami of the Ohio" or the Great Miami River) or in French, Miami du Lac. Maumee is an anglicized spelling of the Ottawa name for the Miami Indians, maamii. The first USS Maumee (1864) was a 593 ton screw steam gunboat of the Union Navy.

USS Ashtabula AO-51 Launched,
22 May 1943
The Ashtabula River is located in northeast of Cleveland in Ohio. The river flows into Lake Erie at the city of Ashtabula, Ohio. It is 40 mi in length. The Iroquois called the Ashtabula river "Hash-tah-buh-lah", meaning "river of many fish". Read: Railroad Disaster in Ashtabula

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