USS Severn, a 23,000-ton Ashtabula class oiler, was built at Sparrows Point, Maryland. Commissioned in mid-July 1944, she soon passed through the Panama Canal to join the War against Japan. Her initial service, from September to December 1944, was delivering fresh water to Navy forces in the central and south Pacific, and to units operating off Leyte. In January 1945 she supported the landings at Lingayen Gulf with more fresh water, oil and other supplies. She performed similar functions during the Okinawa invasion, after Japan's surrender and during the Operation "Crossroads" atomic bomb tests in mid-1946. Severn spent the rest of the 1940s transporting oil essentially world-wide, with emphasis on service from the Persian Gulf.
Placed out of commission in early 1950, Severn was soon recalled to active service by the demands of the Korean War. After recommissioning in late December 1950 she made two trips across the Pacific to Japan before transferring to the Atlantic in April 1951. For the next two decades, Severn was employed in the vicinity of that ocean, making frequent runs to the Mediterranean Sea to support Sixth Fleet operations. Inactive after the end of 1972, she was decommissioned at the beginning of July 1973. USS Severn was stricken from the Navy list a year later and sold for scrapping in January 1975.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Severn (AO-61).
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.
In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Severn (AO-61). The following list features some of these images:
The images listed below are NOT in
the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".
USS Severn (AO-61) refueling USS Gherardi (DMS-30) and USS Roanoke (CL-145). Taken by USS Midway (CVA-41). This photo was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 5 May 1952. Surface view, taken from almost directly ahead of Gherardi, which is on the left side of the image. Severn is seen from tight on the starboard bow, in the middle of the photo, while Roanoke is seen from off the starboard bow. Note: Gherardi is mis-identified as USS Shea (DM-30) in the original photo caption. USS Severn (AO-61) at anchor, circa the late 1940s or early 1950s. This photo was received by the Naval Photographic Center in December 1959, but was taken considerably earlier. Port bow surface view, rather toward the broadside. Severn is very light, probably empty of cargo, and appears to have no guns fitted. USS Severn (AO-61) in habor, 28 October 1958. Photographed by Turner. Port bow surface view. USS Severn (AO-61) underway, 10 January 1963, with a destroyer steaming along her starboard side. Photographed by PHAN Winderlich. Port bow surface view. Severn is riding rather light. USS Severn (AO-61) refueling USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) and USS Farragut (DLG-6), 10 January 1963. Photographed by PHAN Winderlich from on board USS Boston (CAG-1), whose foredeck dominates the foreground of the view. Rather distant surface view, taken from nearly directly astern. USS Severn (AO-61) refueling USS Essex (CVS-9) and USS Strong (DD-758), while underway at sea on 18 May 1963. Starboard bow aerial view, with Strong in the left foreground, off Severn's starboard side, and Essex off Severn's port side, nearly filling the width of the image. USS Severn (AO-61) refueling USS Cambria (APA-36) during Operation "Steel Pike", 22 October 1965 (date may be incorrect). Starboard bow aerial view, with Cambria steaming off Severn's port side. USS Severn (AO-61) in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, November 1965. Port bow surface view. The ship does not appear to be moving. USS Severn (AO-61) underway in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, November 1965. Starboard bow surface view. USS Severn (AO-61) comes alongside the civilian tanker Erna Elizabeth to take on fuel, in the Caribbean Sea, 29 February 1972. Photographed by PH2 Thomas L. Vann. Starboard bow surface view, taken from on board the Erna Elizabeth, whose deck is seen in the left foreground. USS Severn (AO-61) comes alongside the civilian tanker Erna Elizabeth to take on fuel, during operations off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, 6 March 1972. Photographed by PH2 Thomas L. Vann. Port bow surface view, taken from on board the Erna Elizabeth, whose deck dominates the foreground.
Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions". |
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 7 September 2004