page_title: USS Sara Thompson (AO-8)
section_title: Post-war service
hierarchical_section_title: USS Sara Thompson (AO-8) / Post-war service
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo #: NH 71565 USS Sara Thompson (AO-8) View on deck, looking aft toward the bridge with laundry drying at left, circa the early 1920s. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1970.
context_page_description: USS Sara Thompson was a tanker in the United States Navy. She was purchased at the start of World War I by the U.S. Navy and served as a tanker supporting American troops in Europe. Post-war she operated in the Pacific Ocean, supporting Navy operations in the Guam, China, and the Philippines. Because of her age and deteriorating condition, she spent her final days in the US Navy as a receiving hulk in the Philippines.
context_section_description: Sara Thompson steamed to Apra Harbor, Guam, during April 1920 to refuel units of Destroyer Division 13, before returning to Cavite on 7 May 1920. She was classified AO-8 as an oiler on 17 July 1920. She steamed northward to Chefoo, China, twice during 1920, operating with ships of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet before returning to Manila Bay on 12 October. Sara Thompson continued local operations with Cavite-based destroyer forces into November 1921.
  Inspection of her deteriorating engines led to Sara Thompson being placed in reduced commission "in ordinary" on 8 December 1921 for duty only as a floating storage vessel for fuel and diesel oil. She remained in service into the 1930s, being designated the receiving ship at Cavite on 6 January 1930 with her commanding officer also commanding the Receiving Station ashore.
caption: 1920s deck view of USS Sara Thompson.
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