USS Pyro (AE-24)

2025-03-27T15:09:09Z

57.140.108.44: Wiki-linked EMR

{{Short description|U.S. Navy ammunition ship}}
{{Other ships|USS Pyro}}
{{no footnotes|date=January 2012}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:USS Pyro (AE-24) underway in 1980.JPEG|300px|USS ''Pyro'' (AE-24) underway in 1980]]
|Ship caption=USS ''Pyro'' (AE-24) in 1980
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=[[United States]]
|Ship flag={{USN flag}}
|Ship name=USS ''Pyro'' (AE-24)
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Bethlehem Steel Corporation]]
|Ship laid down=21 October 1957
|Ship launched=5 November 1958
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=24 July 1959
|Ship decommissioned=31 May 1994
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck from Naval register=8 April 1997
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Scrapped 2012
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Nitro|ammunition ship}}
|Ship displacement=8,300 tons
|Ship length={{convert|512|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|72|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|29|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed=20 knots
|Ship complement=331
|Ship armament=4 x [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}]] guns
|Ship notes=Nitro, Pyro, Haleakala are all Nitro class and sister ships. Preceded by the Suribachi class and followed by the Kilauea class
}}
|}

The second '''USS ''Pyro'' (AE–24)''', an ammunition ship, was laid down 21 October 1957 by Bethlehem-Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc., [[Sparrows Point, Maryland]]; launched 5 November 1958; sponsored by Mrs. [[Stuart H. Ingersoll]]; and commissioned 24 July 1959 at [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]], [[Norfolk, Va.]]

After fitting out at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, ''Pyro'' moved from local operations at Norfolk to [[Earle, N.J.]] to take on ammunition, thence proceeded to shakedown out of [[Guantánamo Bay, Cuba|Guantanamo Bay]], [[Cuba]] through 30 October. She called at [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]] and [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]] before transiting the [[Panama Canal]] to report to Service Force, Pacific for duty. Steaming via [[Lima]], [[Peru]] and [[Acapulco]], [[Mexico]], she arrived [[San Diego]] 4 December 1959. The fourth of a new class of ammunition ships designed from the hull up for carrying and transferring at sea the latest in munitions and guided missiles, ''Pyro'' spent the last part of December undergoing final trials at [[San Francisco]].

At [[Port Chicago, Calif.]], ''Pyro'' offloaded her cargo, then spent the month of January 1960 at [[Mare Island Naval Shipyard]]. Through February the ship was at Port Chicago making preparations for her first WestPac deployment. She departed late that month, calling at [[Pearl Harbor]]; [[U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo|Sasebo]], [[United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka|Yokosuka]], [[Kobe]], and [[Iwakuni]], [[Japan]]; and at [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] and [[Hong Kong]], while fulfilling her assigned tasks and providing underway replenishment services to various units of the 7th Fleet before returning to [[Concord, Calif.]] 15 August 1960.

A three-month overhaul commenced 21 March at [[Willamette Iron and Steel Co. Shipyard]], [[Richmond, Calif.]] ''Pyro'' then departed on her second WestPac deployment 9 August 1961 and again serviced units of the 7th Fleet, returning to Concord, Calif. 1 March 1962. Local operations such as exercise "Pork Barrel", in May, provided realistic tests of the capabilities of the ships of the Service Force.

''Pyro'' subsequently made annual deployments to WestPac after 8 October 1962. Much of her at sea time was spent on [[Yankee Station]] in support of 7th Fleet Units operating off the coast of [[Vietnam]].

She entered the [[San Francisco Naval Shipyard]] 9 September 1963 for installation of a revolutionary new weapons transfer system called FAST—Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer. The new system proved its worth during her fourth WestPac deployment, 12 January through 17 June 1964. For her outstanding performance in servicing 7th Fleet units during the period 5 December 1964 through 23 October 1965, when she conducted 227 ammunition unreps, she received the [[Navy Unit Commendation]] ribbon.

Into the 1970s ''Pyro'' remained active with the Pacific Fleet, providing vital underway ammunition replenishment services during her annual deployments and refining her readiness and maintaining her high material and personnel standards during port periods.

In early 1994, the USS ''Pyro'' (AE-24) was decommissioned, struck from the Naval register in April 1997 and later, was moved to the [[National Defense Reserve Fleet|Suisun Bay, CA]], Nest A.

In February 2012, ''Pyro'' departed San Francisco Bay under tow for scrapping at [[European Metal Recycling]]'s Southern Recycling in New Orleans, LA. Her recycling was complete by the end of 2012.

==References==
* {{DANFS}}

==External links==
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/05/0524.htm Photo gallery] at Navsource.org
* [http://Www.usspyro.com USS ''Pyro'' AE-1 / AE-24 Association]

{{Nitro class ammunition ship}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyro (Ae-24)}}
[[Category:Nitro-class ammunition ships]]
[[Category:Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland]]
[[Category:1958 ships]]

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USS Pyro (AE-24)