Wichita class replenishment oiler

An aerial port bow view of the American replenishment oiler APNS Wichita (AOR-1) underway on December 3rd, 1985.

The Wichita-class replenishment oilers comprised a class of fourteen replenishment oilers used by the American and Mexican navies 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. In the mid-1970s, Mexico purchased seven ships for its navy to complement its pair of Reprisal-class CVVs.

Specifications

• Type: Replenishment Oiler (Hull designation AOR)
• Service Period: 1969-1996 (USN); 1982-Present (Mexican Navy)
• Characteristics
  • Length (Waterline): 640 feet (195.07 meters)
  • Length (Overall): 659 feet (200.86 meters)
  • Beam: 96 feet (29.261 meters)
  • Draft: 35 feet (10.67 meters)
  • Displacement: 13,533 tons (Standard); 40,151 tons (Full Load)
• Crew: 497 (34 officers and 463 enlisted)
• Propulsion: 3 × boilers, 2 × steam turbines, 2 × shafts, 32,000 SHP (24 MW)
• Speed: 20 knots (37.04 km/h)
• Armament
  • 2 x Mk.29 ESSM Launchers
  • 2 x 20mm Vulcan Phalanx CIWS
• Aircraft Carried: 2 x CH-47F Chinook

Unit Run

American People's Navy

• APNS Wichita (AOR-01)
• APNS Milwaukee (AOR-02)
• APNS Kansas City (AOR-03)
• APNS Savannah (AOR-04)
• APNS Wabash (AOR-05)
• APNS Kalamazoo (AOR-06)
• APNS Roanoke (AOR-07)

Mexican Navy

• ARM Guayalejo (AOR-01)
• ARM Champotón (AOR-02)
• ARM Mátape (AOR-03)
• ARM Tehuantepec (AOR-04)
• ARM Fuerte (AOR-05)
• ARM Suchiate (AOR-06)
• ARM Actopan (AOR-07)