The USS ELOKOMIN (AO-55) was an auxiliary oiler of the United States Navy, attached to Service Force, Atlantic Fleet. All Oilers of the Navy, by tradition, are named after rivers with Indian names; the ELOKOMIN was no exception. The ELOKOMIN river is a small river, 22 miles in length, which is located in Wahkiaukum County in the state of Washington. The name of the river was given by the local Indians and means "lost hunter or chief". This was derived from an old legend concerning an Indian Chief being lost in the canyons along the upper Elokomin. To this day, there is some dispute as to the proper spelling of the river's name. Locally, it is spelled ELOCHOMAN, however, the Federal and State governments spell it ELOKOMIN.
Designed by the U.S. Maritime Commission, the ship was a large twin screw tanker, powered by two steam turbines of 6750 horse-power each, and was of the continuous single deck type, the profile presenting the usual tanker arrangement of poop, bridge and forecastle with machinery and boilers located abaft the cargo tanks. Although similar tankers have been constructed for private enterprise, special alterations and additions were made to the ship to satisfy the high standards of naval service. The total capacity of its cargo, composed of Aviation AvGas, Jet Fuel, Diesel Oil and Black Oil, was the equivalent of 600 fully loaded railroad tank cars and was sufficient to keep five battleships or twelve destroyers at sea for one month, or, at average consumption, 10,000 automobiles on the highway for a year.
During World War II, the ELOKOMIN was more heavily armed than a destroyer-escort, having one five-inch 38 caliber dual-purpose gun, four three-inch 50 caliber dual-purpose guns, four forty millimeter twin-mount guns and eight twenty millimeter guns. In later years, all of the twenty millimeter and two of the forty millimeter mounts were removed.
The ELOKOMIN'S keel was laid on 09 March 1943, at the Bethlehem-Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc., Sparrows Point, Maryland. She was launched on 19 October 1943.
ELOKOMIN began a five month general overhaul in March 1966. Following the yard period, the ship participated in refresher training in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in preparation for her next deployment to the Mediterranean in May 1967. This cruise had one added feature; a "Beard Permit" that entitled the bearer to all the rights and privileges of all official "Elokomin Brothers of The Brush".
During this deployment she set a Sixth Fleet record, pumping the most gallons of fuel, for one ship, during one deployment. She was also a vital asset to the Sixth Fleet during the Egyptian-Israeli crisis where in-port refueling would have lessened the effectiveness of the entire fleet. A diary entry of this period, dated 08 June 1967, recorded "Almost had collision with supply ship. Flash! XO gave word at approximately 1545 that USS LIBERTY AGR5 was torpedoed off Egypt. Many men worried about extensions. USS SYLVANIA to evacuate 800 Americans at Alexandria. Looks like bad news hasn't hit papers yet".
During one trip to the Med during the period of 1963 to 1967, the ELOKOMIN was blamed for an oil spill in Cannes, France, which had been caused by another ship that had left port. The ELO's Captain summoned that ship back to clean up their mess.
An interesting Plan of The Day, in 1967, had a note showing the "con's" of a Seaman getting married. As part of it, it stated that an SN (with 2 years in) would have a base pay of $164.70 a month and with his clothing allowance of $4.20, BAQ of $55.20 and sea pay of $9.00 but less $23.52 income tax and social security, he would have had a new pay amount of $209.58. Today (in 1994 as this is being written) a new recruit could expect to earn $933.00 a month. Oh yes, back on that Plan of The Day, it was figured that after normal expenses that SN would have had $29.58 left over after paying his normal bills.
August 1968 brought the ELOKOMIN into the North Atlantic for "Operation Silver Tower", a training exercise for NATO forces. Appropriately, she celebrated her silver anniversary performing an unrep with the USS WASP. After a period of upkeep ELOKOMIN headed south for her 10th Caribbean cruise. In 6 short weeks, 09 January thru 20 February 1969, she refueled a record 115 ships.
Following a week of refresher training at Guantanamo Bay and a month of preparation in Norfolk, ELOKOMIN set out on 09 May 1969, for her last "MED" cruise. During that cruise she visited Barcelona, Spain; Valencia, Spain; Gaeta, Italy; Taormina, Sicily; Souda Bay, Crete; Athens, Greece; Golfe Juan, France; Palma, Spain; Rota, Spain; Valletta, Malta; Marsaxlokk, Malta; Naples, Italy; Augusta Bay, Sicily; Beaulieu, France; Cagliari, Sardinia; and Cartagena, Spain. Almost seven months later, on 28 November 1969, ELOKOMIN returned to Norfolk after refueling 277 ships. From that time, until her decommissioning on 17 March 1970, ELOKOMIN remained in Norfolk.
ELOKOMIN was then prepared for sale or transfer, in Philadelphia. As there were no bids from any American buyer, she was then sold to the country of Spain, for the price of $302,000, on 27 November 1970 for foreign scrapping.
I went into the Navy during November of 1966. Departing from Knoxville, I was flown to Norfolk, VA. I was 'in transient' for two weeks and waiting to be flown to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to meet up with my ship, the Elokomin. I was at the tender age of just barely turning 20. Other than Florida vacations, I had rarely been out of Tennessee, and certainly had never traveled on my own. After 2 weeks of being processed, it was time for the real thing. I can remember that early morning when I boarded the military plane….it was 20 degrees with about a foot of snow on the ground. We recruits were all dressed up in our 'dress blues' - thick, heavy weight wool uniforms. The clothes were warm, and well suited for the climate I was in. I was carrying everything I was allowed to 'own' in a canvas duffle bag that probably weighed at least half of my total weight, which at best was around 130 pounds. A few short hours later, I arrived at the US Naval base in GITMO. We were reunited with our duffle bags and marched 3 miles to where our ship was anchored. Well, we actually walked….there was very little marching in the Navy. And trust me, those warm dress blues were NOT the proper attire to be wearing in Cuba. The temperature was around 93 degrees. Carrying my belongings, I would say that I lost at least 5 pounds on that little stroll.
I was stationed on the Elokomin between November 1966 and November 1968. During those 2 years I did a lot of growing up. I was thrown together in tight quarters with other men from all over the country. I would never want to live through those two years again, but I would not want to give up those two years either! It was a learning experience that has benefited me throughout my life. Most importantly, I learned about people. Another great benefit was that I got to travel and see some of the world. While stationed on the Elokomin I visited Spain, Italy, Greece, Crete, Malta, England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany.
