page_title: USS Virgo (AKA-20)
section_title: 1965–1968
hierarchical_section_title: USS Virgo (AKA-20) / Service history / Vietnam / 1965–1968
caption_attribution_description: A U.S. Navy Kaman UH-2B Seasprite (BuNo 150186) of Helicopter Combat Support Squadron HC-1 flies the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) in November 1966. The only other aircraft visible are three Grumman E-2A Hawkeye from Airborne Early Warning Squadron VAW-112 Golden Hawks. The Big E is being replenished by the ammunition ship USS Virgo (AE-30) and was working up for a deployment to Vietnam from 19 November 1966 to 6 July 1967.
context_page_description: USS Virgo (AKA-20) was an Andromeda class attack cargo ship of the United States Navy, named after the constellation Virgo. She was later converted to an ammunition ship and redesignated as. She served as a commissioned ship for 22 years and 4 months.
  Virgo (AKA-20) was laid down on 9 March 1943 at Kearny, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, under a Maritime Commission contract; launched on 4 June 1943; sponsored by Miss Sharman Douglas; delivered to the Navy on 15 July 1943; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 16 July 1943, Comdr. Clayton H. McLaughlin in command.
context_section_description: In September 1965, the Navy reactivated the Virgo and her name was reinstated on the Navy list. On 1 November 1965, she was reclassified as an ammunition ship and redesignated AE-30. After almost a year of repairs and rehabilitation, Virgo (AE-30) was recommissioned at Seattle, Washington, on 19 August 1966, Capt. Harold R. MacMillan in command. She spent the remainder of 1966 engaged in shakedown training and independent ship's exercises along the west coast. In January 1967, she loaded ammunition at Concord Naval Weapons Station, California, in preparation for her first deployment to the western Pacific in support of the American effort in the Vietnam War. She departed Concord on 12 January and arrived in Subic Bay on 6 February. There, she unloaded a part of her cargo before departing the Philippines on the 12th for replenishment missions in the Gulf of Tonkin. During the following six months, the ship made an equal number of replenishment voyages from Subic Bay to the warships operating in the Gulf of Tonkin to keep them supplied with ammunition. She punctuated those assignments with liberty calls at Subic Bay and at Hong Kong. Virgo headed back to the United States on 22 August. Almost a month later, on 21 September, she moored at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, California. She spent the remainder of the year engaged in normal operations out of her base at Concord.
  During the first six weeks of 1968, Virgo loaded ammunition in preparation for and participation in the 1st Fleet exercise, Operation "Bead Stringer." In mid-February, she loaded ammunition for her second deployment to the western Pacific during the Vietnam War. On 26 February, she began her voyage west. The ship changed operational control to the 7th Fleet on 7 March and arrived in Subic Bay 12 days later. Once again, her assignment fell into a pattern of replenishment voyages to the ships operating in the Gulf of Tonkin. In six months' time, she made eight line swings from Subic Bay to the Gulf bringing in new stocks of ammunition to refill the depleted magazines of American warships along the Vietnamese coast. She finished her last such mission early in October and returned to Subic Bay on the 10th. From there, she moved to Sasebo, Japan, for a four-day liberty call before getting underway for the United States on 23 October. The ammunition ship arrived back in Concord on 11 November, offloaded ammunition, and entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard to begin post-deployment standdown. On 19 December, she moved to the Triple "A" shipyard to begin a six-week restricted availability.
caption: USS Virgo replenishing USS Enterprise in 1966
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