USS Tombigbee (AOG-11) - Supporting Nuclear Testing at Bikini

Supporting Nuclear Testing At Bikini

Following this tour of duty, for which she received the Navy Occupation Service Medal, Tombigbee supported the ships participating in the atomic bomb testing in the Marshalls at Bikini Atoll, from 1 April to 5 September 1946. During the assignment, she made periodic trips to Eniwetok for replenishment of water. Four days after her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 14 September, the ship headed for the west coast for an overhaul which lasted into 1947. Upon her return to the western Pacific, she began conducting local operations in the Marshalls; at Eniwetok and Kwajalein, which continued from 13 January to 14 March. Then, following brief repairs at Pearl Harbor, Tombigbee was again deployed to the Far East. She operated out of Guam; Yokosuka, Japan; Pusan and Jinsen (Inchon), Korea; Tsingtao, China; Buckner Bay and Naha, Okinawa; as well as at Manila in the Philippine Islands. The tanker remained in the Far East until 1 August, when she departed Tsingtao, bound for Long Beach, California. After overhaul, the ship returned to the Orient and touched at familiar ports before heading for the west coast late in the summer of 1949 for inactivation. On 12 December 1949, Tombigbee was placed out of commission, in reserve, at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.