USS Sylvania ( AFS - 2 ) USS " Sylvania " ( AFS - 2 ) , a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named " Sylvania " . " Sylvania " was laid down on 18 August 1962 at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego , California ; launched on 10 August 1963 ; sponsored by Mrs . Cyrus R . Vance ; and commissioned on 11 July 1964 , with Captain Bernard A . Lienhard in command . Service history . 1964 – 1970 . At the time of commissioning , " Sylvania " was the second of a new class of combat store ship designed to combine the functions of the AF ( store ship ) , AKS ( stores issue ship ) , and AVS ( aviation issue ship ) . She completed fitting out and , after sea trials , departed California for duty with the Atlantic Fleet . The Panama Canal was transited on 11 August , and the ship arrived at Norfolk on 16 October 1964 for post - shakedown availability . Upon completion of this , the ship operated in the Norfolk area until the spring of 1965 . " Sylvania " stood out of Norfolk on 14 April 1965 , en route to the Mediterranean and her first tour of duty with the 6th Fleet . She called at Rota , Spain , and arrived at her new home port , Naples , Italy , on 29 April . Two days later , she began her first underway replenishment operation with the 6th Fleet . On 31 July , " Sylvania " completed the first vertical replenishment of an aircraft carrier using UH - 46A helicopters . In early October the store ship logged her 1 , 000th accident - free helicopter landing . She served as flagship for the Service Force , 6th Fleet , from 5 December 1966 to 17 April 1967 . During the night of 8 January 1968 , the cargo ship suffered her only material loss of the year . She experienced a roll of 38 degrees and took water over the flight deck . The roll , wind , and water parted the tie - downs on cargo staged on the flight deck for the next day ' s replenishment . Consequently , 52 pallets of provisions were lost . On 1 July 1968 , " Sylvania " was awarded the Battle Efficiency " E " for her class and the Supply " E " for Supply Efficiency . She also won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet . " Sylvania " was honored on 19 October by a visit from the Assistant Secretary of the Navy , Charles A . Bowser , and a party of eight who came aboard for a briefing and tour and to observe an underway replenishment exercise . The ship was in drydock at Malta from 29 November until 10 December 1968 when she returned to normal 6th Fleet operations . On 16 June 1969 the ship lost a UH - 46D helicopter when it crashed during vertical replenishment operations in the harbor of Palma de Mallorca , but the crew was rescued . On 30 September , the ship left the 6th Fleet and returned to Norfolk on 24 October after an absence of four and one - half years . 1970 – 1976 . " Sylvania " deployed to the 6th Fleet again from 28 December 1969 to 15 February 1970 . She then began preparations for her first overhaul since commissioning . The ship was in drydock from 11 April to 13 May when she moored at the shipyard , and was ready for sea on 13 July . On 20 July the ship was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation for service to the 6th Fleet during the period 25 April 1965 to 30 September 1969 . The next day , Admiral Elmo R . Zumwalt , Jr . , Chief of Naval Operations , visited " Sylvania " . The period from 13 August to 11 September was spent in refresher training at Guantanamo Bay . " Sylvania " stood out of Norfolk on 18 November 1970 to begin a six - month deployment in logistic support of the 6th Fleet and returned to Norfolk on 17 May 1971 . In June , the ship entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a four - month restricted availability period . " Sylvania " left the yard on 4 October and , from 23 – 27 October , conducted a four - day port call at Fort Lauderdale , Florida . After two weeks of refresher training at Guantanamo Bay , she returned to Norfolk for another two - month availability period . The ship then commenced pre - deployment loadout and underway training in the Virginia Capes area until mid - February . " Sylvania " then deployed to the Mediterranean in support of the 6th Fleet from 24 February to 26 August . After five weeks of re - loading supplies at Norfolk , the cargo ship returned to the Mediterranean , from 2 October to 10 November , to replenish the AFS that was on station there . The remainder of the year 1972 and until 5 March 1973 was spent at Norfolk in upkeep and underway training . " Sylvania " , sailed to Guantanamo Bay and held refresher training from 6 – 16 March and then paid a three - day visit to Cape Kennedy before returning to her home port on 23 March . She stood out of Norfolk on 25 May for another tour with the 6th Fleet and relieved as the on - station AFS on 16 June . She , in turn , was relieved by on 12 November and returned to Norfolk on 3 December 1973 . " Sylvania " operated out of Norfolk until early September 1974 when she again deployed to the Mediterranean for duty with the 6th Fleet . In September 1976 , returning from a routine deployment , " Sylvania " had the honor of transporting the world famous King Tutankhamun Exhibition to America for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City . 1980 – 1989 . During the 1980s Syvlania was assigned to Service Squadron Four and Service Group Two . Service Squadron Four consisted of nine logistic support ships assigned the vital mission of providing food , fuel , supplies , repair parts and ammunition to Naval units of the Second and Sixth Fleet s . In this capacity Sylvania assumed the duties of deployed , on - station combat stores ship in early 1980 , again from May through November 1981 , in 1983 where the ship received the Navy Expeditionary Medal for her participation in Sixth Fleet peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon , again over the Winter of 1983 and early 1984 , and in late 1984 . In 1985 Sylvania went through a major overhaul in Norfolk , Virginia in which all of its systems were upgraded and much needed repairs made . This put her out of the deployment rotation for over a full year . During this period USNS Sirius ( T - AFS - 8 ) was upgraded to be able to conduct full operations as a combat stores ship and was included in the Fleet AFS rotation . In 1986 , Sylvania successfully left overhaul and conducted replenishment operations and refresher training in the Caribbean . This included training operations at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and ship visits to Ocho Rios , Jamaica , and Nassau , Bahamas . While at Nassau , the ship was visited by actor Sidney Poitier . With her reentry to the Fleet , the combat stores compliment now included Sylvania , USNS Sirius ( T - AFS - 8 ) , USS Concord ( AFS - 5 ) , and USS San Diego ( AFS - 6 ) . Thus , while Sylvania ' s operational tempo prior to this time was to deploy every eight to twelve months , with five months on station , the period was lengthened to every twelve to fifteen months , with five months on station . Yard overhaul and maintenance , at - sea refresher training , and local at - sea training operations were conducted between the periods deployed on station . Thus , Sylvania deployed to the Mediterranean over the winter of 1986 and early 1987 , and once again in early 1988 . In between deployments the ship conducted Second Fleet operations , visiting Miami , Florida , and attending Fleet Week in New York City . A typical monthly cycle for Sylvania in the Mediterranean during this period was for the ship to steam three or four thousand miles , delivering goods to a range of from 40 to 70 ships . On average , 2 , 000 to 3 , 000 pallets of material would be moved via underway replenishment , with roughtly half being transferred by vertical replenishment via helicopter . After an arduous three weeks the ship typically would visit a port for several days of recreation , maintenance , and resupply . Typical ports included Malaga , Alicante , Torremolinos , Cartagena , Rota , and Palma , Spain ; Toulon and Marseilles , France ; Augusta Bay , Sicily and Naples , Italy ; the British territory of Gibraltar ; Haifa , Israel ; Antalya , Turkey ; and Piraeus , Greece . 1990 – 2001 . In 1990 she deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and eventually the Red Sea in support of Operation " Desert Shield " . She then supplied three carrier battle groups within one week during the lead up to " Desert Storm " in 1991 . " Sylvania " was decommissioned on 26 May 1994 and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 January 1995 . " Sylvania " ' s title was transferred to the Maritime Administration and she was eventually sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service for scrapping on 28 July 2001 .