USS Mazama ( AE - 9 ) USS " Mazama " ( AE ‑ 9 ) was laid down 14 April 1942 by the Tampa Shipbuilding Co . , Tampa , Fla . ; launched 15 August 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . Edward V . Rickenbacker ; and commissioned 10 March 1944 , Comdr : P . V . R . Harris , USNR , in command . She was named for Mount Mazama , a collapsed volcano in the Cascade Range in Oregon whose caldera is now occupied by Crater Lake . Service . " Mazama " built as an ammunition ship using C ‑ 2 hull plans , began her war service 6 May 1944 . On that date , having filled her holds with high explosives , she departed Boston for the Pacific . Arriving at Majuro 4 June , she immediately assumed her dangerous , but extremely vital , mission of receiving and delivering ammunition to ships at sea and in port . She remained at Majuro through 12 June ; thence proceeding via Eniwetok to Saipan , arriving 21 June , just after the Battle of the Philippine Sea . She continued on in support of Saipan ‑ Tinian operations , rearming units of the 5th Fleet , including renowned Fast Carrier Task Force 58 , until 11 July . " Mazama " sailed for San Francisco 4 August , arriving on the 24th and departing again on 19 September for the combat area . Liberation of the Philippines . Anchoring at Manus on 9 October , the ammunition ship prepared for the liberation of the Philippines . She steamed on the 15th for Kossol Roads , continuing on to Leyte Gulf , arriving 23 October 3 days after the Leyte landings . She remained in the gulf , in spite of intense and bitter air activity , through the battles off Samar and in Surigao Strait . Following these battles she rearmed the units of the 7th and 3rd Fleets . On 1 November , " Mazama " departed for Kossol Roads and Ulithi Atoll . While at anchor in the latter , 20 November , she witnessed the first successful attack of the kaiten . By 1 December she was beaded for Espiritu Santo to replenish her cargo ; returning to Ulithi 5 January 1945 . There , at 0650 12 January , a suspicious object was sighted off the starboard quarter . Four minutes later an explosion rocked the ship . She developed a 2° list to port and was down at the head . Pumps were immediately started to counteract flooding , later ballast was emptied to reduce the forward draft which had increased to 35 from 23 feet ; the change in draft aft , from 25 to 21 feet . By midafternoon , having suffered the loss of eight men , one dead and seven seriously injured , she began to transfer serviceable ammunition ; unserviceable munitions were dumped at sea . The next day the caulking and plugging of open seams was begun . Temporary repairs completed by 6 March , " Mazama " steamed for San Francisco , arriving 4 April . She then headed back toward the Philippines 9 June with 5 , 000 tons of ammunition . On 2 July she entered San Pedro Bay where she remained through the end of the war . Decommissionings and recommissionings . On 19 August she rendezvoused off the Japanese coast with TG 30 . 8 whose units were under orders to stand by until the signing of the official surrender document . She then returned to the Philippines , discharging remaining cargo , and sailed to the United States , arriving 23 November at Seattle to prepare for inactivation and transfer to the Pacific Reserve Fleet . On 12 April 1946 she steamed to San Diego where she decommissioned 3 August . " Mazama " recommissioned 24 April 1952 and was assigned to Service Force , Atlantic Fleet . For the next five years she operated off the east coast with annual deployments with the 6th Fleet . During her 1956 Mediterranean deployment ( 1 May to 11 October ) she was part of the logistics force in the eastern part of that sea as the crisis over Egyptian nationalization of the Suez Canal heightened . The crisis erupted in late October into armed conflict between Israel , the United Kingdom , France , and Egypt . Following her return to the east coast , " Mazama " decommissioned 10 June 1957 at Orange , Texas , where she remained as a unit of the 16th Fleet until 1961 . On 27 November 1961 " Mazama " again recommissioned . Home ported at Mayport , Florida for the next four years , she participated in fleet exercises along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean . During fall 1962 exercises in the latter area she was called on to support the ships enforcing the Cuban quarantine . In 1964 she was again deployed to the Mediterranean , where , during the month of August , she stood by in support of the Cyprus patrol as civil unrest and fighting between Greek and Turkish Cypriots threatened an uneasy peace in the eastern Mediterranean . " Mazama " returned to Florida 23 December to operate out of Mayport until August 1965 . On 20 August she moored at Davisville , Rhode Island , her new home port . Her deployment schedule was also changed and the next year she was assigned to the 7th Fleet . Departing Davisville 17 March 1966 , she arrived at Subic Bay 5 May and for the next six months supported units of the 7th Fleet in operations off the coast of Vietnam . On 3 November " Mazama " was relieved by " Shasta " . She then headed back to Davisville via the Suez Canal , completing her round ‑ the ‑ world cruise 20 December . After a cruise to the Mediterranean in late 1967 through early 1968 , " Mazama " returned to operate with and supply ammunition to the 2d Fleet into 1969 . In March 1969 she departed for the Panama Canal to start a Western Pacific cruise that lasted to November 1969 with a full ships ' complement arriving April 1969 in Subic Bay . Upon return to Davisville she was permanently decommissioned in 1970 . Awards and honors . " Mazama " received five battle star s for actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations at Guam , The Philippine Campaign , Saipan , Tinian , Okinawa . The Mazama was also part of the American Occupational Force of the Japanese Home Islands following the end of World War II .