Wichita-class replenishment oiler

USS Wichita (AOR-1), 1985
Class overview
Name:	Wichita
Builders:	General Dynamics, Quincy National Steel, San Diego
Succeeded by:	Cimarron-class fleet replenishment oiler
In commission:	1969–1995
Completed:	7
Retired:	7
General characteristics
Type:	replenishment oiler
Displacement:	13,533 tons empty, 40,151 tons full 26,618 dwt
Length:	640 ft (195 m) wl; 659 ft (201 m) oa
Beam:	96 ft (29 m)
Draft:	35 ft (10.6 m)
Propulsion:	3 × boilers, 2 × steam turbines, 2 × shafts, 32,000 SHP (24 MW)
Speed:	25 knots
Complement:	34 officers, 463 men
Armament:	(As built) 2 × twin 3"/50 AA guns; (as decommissioned) 1 × NATO Sea Sparrow missile system, 2 × Phalanx CIWS
Aircraft carried:	2 × UH-46 Sea Knight helicopters

File:Wabash Refueling Midway 1974.jpg

USS Wabash (AOR-5) during underway replenishment

Wichita-class replenishment oilers comprised a class of seven replenishment oilers used by the United States Navy from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s. During this time the ships were commissioned naval auxiliaries with the hull classification AOR. The ships were designed for rapid underway replenishment using both connected replenishment and vertical replenishment. The ships could carry 160,000 barrels of petroleum fuel, 600 tons of munitions, 200 tons of dry stores and 100 tons of refrigerated stores. The original concept was that the AORs would serve the same function for the anti-submarine carrier (CVS) groups that the larger, faster Sacramento-class AOEs did for the attack carrier (CVA) groups.

With the reduction in the U.S. Navy fleet, these ships were all decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) in the 1990s.

Ships

Traditionally Navy oilers have been named for rivers; the Wichita class were named for city/river pairs with Native American names.

Ship	Hull No.	Builder	Home Port	Commissioned– Decommissioned	NVR page
Wichita	AOR-1	General Dynamics, Quincy	Oakland	1969–1993	AOR-1
Milwaukee	AOR-2	General Dynamics, Quincy	Norfolk	1969–1994	AOR-2
Kansas City	AOR-3	General Dynamics, Quincy	Oakland	1970–1994	AOR-3
Savannah	AOR-4	General Dynamics, Quincy	Norfolk	1970–1995	AOR-4
Wabash	AOR-5	General Dynamics, Quincy	Long Beach	1971–1994	AOR-5
Kalamazoo	AOR-6	General Dynamics, Quincy	Norfolk	1973–1996	AOR-6
Roanoke	AOR-7	National Steel	Long Beach	1976–1995	AOR-7

References

• GlobalSecurity.org: AOR-1 Wichita
• NavSource Photo Archives: Replenishment Fleet Tanker (AOR) Index
• FAS Military Analysis Network: AOR-1 Wichita
• Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
  • Wichita
  • Milwaukee
  • Kansas City
  • Savannah
  • Wabash
  • Roanoke