World War II After runs to various
Atlantic Ocean ports in
North America,
Salamonie got underway for her first overseas voyage on 13 November 1942 in a large
convoy headed for
Casablanca in
French Morocco in
North Africa. Then, after making voyages in several convoys to the
United Kingdom, she was overhauled in
Norfolk,
Virginia, and fitted with
radar. On 12 February 1943
Salamonie suffered a steering fault in the North Atlantic and accidentally rammed the
troopship USAT Uruguay amidships. The tanker's
bow made a hole in
Uruguays
hull and penetrated her hospital, killing 13 soldiers and injuring 50. One soldier landed on the tanker's deck, where he was not discovered until
Salamonie had changed course to
Bermuda for repairs.
Salamonie departed for the
Pacific Ocean via the
Panama Canal on 8 July 1944 and reported for duty with
Commander, Service Force,
United States Seventh Fleet, at
Milne Bay,
New Guinea, on 23 August 1944.
Salamonie joined the
Leyte invasion force in
Hollandia, New Guinea, on 8 October 1944 and later supported both the
Morotai and
Mindoro strike forces. She spent the final months of the war supporting
Allied operations in the
Philippines. A single Japanese plane made a
strafing run on
Salamonie on 5 January 1945, inflicting the sole war casualty aboard
Salamonie during Following the
formal Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945,
Salamonie provided logistic services to the
Shanghai occupation forces along the
Huangpu River in
China.
Post-World War II Early in 1946
Salamonie arrived in
California for an overhaul at
Long Beach Naval Shipyard, then steamed back across the Pacific. She spent the next two-and-a-half years shuttling petroleum products between
Bahrain in the
Persian Gulf and U.S. Navy bases in the
Far East. After returning to
Long Beach, California, in December 1948,
Salamonie was assigned to the
United States Atlantic Fleet and arrived at Norfolk in May 1949. Western Atlantic and
Caribbean operations with the
United States Second Fleet and deployments with the
United States Sixth Fleet in the
Mediterranean Sea took the oiler through the 1950s and well into the 1960s. In August and September 1958
Salamonie was part of U.S. Navy Task Force 88 during
Operation Argus, which involved nuclear tests in the upper atmosphere. Toward the end of the 1960s
Salamonie was designated for inactivation. Placed in reserve on 23 August 1968 and
decommissioned on 20 December 1968,
Salamonie' was struck from the
Navy List on 2 September 1969. She was transferred permanently to the
Maritime Administration and laid up in the
James River, where she remained until 24 September 1970, when her hulk was sold to
N. U. Intershitra of
Rotterdam, the
Netherlands, for
scrapping. ==Awards==