Name USNS Shoshone Construction started 15 August 1955 Length 187 m | Laid down 15 August 1955 Launched 17 January 1957 Builder Chester | |
 | ||
Namesake The Shoshone River in Wyoming In service April 1957 until probably mid-1980s Out of service Probably mid-1980s until 23 December 1994 Struck Date unknown; transferred to Maritime Administration 1 October 1994 for lay-up in National Defense Reserve Fleet | ||
USNS Shoshone (T-AO-151), later T-AO-151T, was a United States Navy Maumee-class oiler, later transport oiler, in non-commissioned service with the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), later Military Sealift Command, from 1957 until probably the mid-1980s.
Shoshone, third U.S. Navy ship to bear the name, was laid down at Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Chester, Pennsylvania, on 15 August 1955 and launched on 17 January 1957, sponsored by Mrs. James E. Van Zandt. She entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service under the control of the Military Sea Transport Service, later the Military Sealift Command, with a primarily civilian crew in April 1957.
Shoshone went into operation for MSTS as a civilian-manned ship. Her role was point‑to‑point delivery of fuel oil and gasoline to the U.S. armed forces at a variety of Atlantic and Pacific ports. She eventually was reclassified as a "transport oiler", resulting her redesignation from "T-AO-151" (as an oiler) to "T-AO-151T" (as a transport oiler). By 1974 she was operating from United States Gulf Coast ports.
Shoshone was placed out of service at an unrecorded date, probably in the mid-1980s. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register, also at an unrecorded date, and was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 1 October 1994 to be laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay at Benicia, California.
In 2001 she was used as an experimental platform by MH Systems to demonstrate the American Underpressure System (AUPS); a pressurized gas system intended to stop or significantly decrease the amount of oil spillage from single and double-hulled tankers in the event of a hull rupture. Following the test, the Shoshone was returned to the Reserve Fleet in August 2001. Google Earth images from August 25, 2009 still show the Shoshone as being part of the Suisun Bay National Defense Reserve Fleet. (38°3′52″N 122°6′18″W)
The Shoshone was cleared for disposal in March 2010 and is likely to be sold for scrapping in the near future.