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USNS Walter S. Diehl (T-AO 193)

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USNS WALTER S. DIEHL was the 7^th ship in the HENRY J. KAISER - class of 18 underway replenishment oilers. This class was specially built for the MSC.

On April 23, 2002, the WALTER S. DIEHL was passing through the Straits of Hormuz when the six small power boats sped alongside. Since the DIEHL did not look like a warship it probably appeared to be easy pickings. The DIEHL fired flares to warn the small boats away, but the boats did not back down and a gunner opened fire with a .50-caliber machine gun. The DIEHL's gunner kept firing as the ship moved ahead and the small boats then sped off.

Retired from service and stricken from the Navy list on October 1, 2022, the WALTER S. DIEHL was later sold for scrapping. She arrived under tow in Brownsville, Tx., in December 2024, and was subsequently broken up.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USNS WALTER S. DIEHL. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents aboard USNS WALTER S. DIEHL:

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USNS WALTER S. DIEHL History:

USNS WALTER S. DIEHL (T-AO 193), seventh of the HENRY J. KAISER-class oilers, was laid down at Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans on August 7, 1986, launched on October 2, 1987, and entered non-commissioned service with Military Sealift Command on September 13, 1988. Assigned to the Pacific Fleet's logistics network, she began the routine of shuttling marine diesel and JP-5 to surface combatants and aviation-capable ships across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, a role she would sustain throughout the period that followed.

The oiler's first high-tempo war service came with the 1990-1991 Gulf crisis. While supporting the amphibious force off Oman at the outset of Operation Desert Storm, the oiler USNS ANDREW J. HIGGINS (T-AO 190) grounded on an uncharted reef near Masirah on January 1, 1991. As salvage teams stripped and segregated HIGGINS' fuel in Dubai, uncontaminated cargo - DFM, JP-5, and lube oil - was prepared for transfer. On January 13, 1991, WALTER S. DIEHL received that clean cargo during an underway replenishment, a precisely timed handoff that helped keep the amphibious logistics plan intact even as the grounded oiler went to dry dock.

As coalition naval operations accelerated in January 1991, WALTER S. DIEHL worked the shuttle tracks supporting surface and amphibious units in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Gulf. On January 16, 1991, the amphibious transport dock USS JUNEAU (LPD 10) recorded an underway replenishment with WALTER S. DIEHL as the task group closed on its operating areas. On January 20, 1991, the amphibious assault ship USS NASSAU (LHA 4) logged both replenishment-alongside and fuel-alongside evolutions with WALTER S. DIEHL and the combat stores ship USS SAN JOSE (AFS 7), ensuring the helicopter-heavy amphibious formation could sustain flight operations and sea control patrols throughout the first days of the air war. In the same period, the cruiser USS BUNKER HILL (CG 52) likewise reported UNREP with WALTER S. DIEHL while screening in the northern Gulf.

Through the latter half of the 1990s, WALTER S. DIEHL continued Pacific Fleet service, repeatedly fueling carrier and amphibious groups during workups and deployments. During USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74)'s operations in 1998, the carrier's command history notes a large JP-5 onload from WALTER S. DIEHL - hundreds of thousands of gallons taken at Stations 5 and 11 - typical of the oiler's role topping off flight decks during cyclic flight operations. That same year the amphibious assault ship USS TARAWA (LHA 1) recorded vertical replenishments with WALTER S. DIEHL while assembling and training its ARG/MEU team for Western Pacific duty.

In the fall of 2000, during TARAWA's WESTPAC deployment, WALTER S. DIEHL fell in with the formation in the Arabian Sea. On October 12, 2000, TARAWA executed an UNREP with WALTER S. DIEHL. One week later the force shifted focus to Aden, Yemen, for Operation Determined Response after the terrorist attack on USS COLE (DDG 67). From roughly October 19 to November 21, 2000, the ARG and escorts maintained presence and supported recovery and security operations centered on Aden. Oilers like WALTER S. DIEHL kept ships fueled as they cycled between the Gulf of Aden and adjacent sea lanes during an uncertain security environment.

In early 2003, the oiler was back off Southern California supporting pre-deployment training. On January 16, 2003, during USS NIMITZ (CVN 68)'s Composite Unit Training Exercise off San Diego, WALTER S. DIEHL cruised alongside for a vertical replenishment, part of the graded certification of the carrier strike group. As the NIMITZ formation prepared to deploy for operations connected to the post-9/11 campaigns, imagery from March 5, 2003, again shows WALTER S. DIEHL underway in company with the carrier during workups in the eastern Pacific. These evolutions sustained the strike group's tempo as it built the proficiency required for long-range flight operations and maritime security tasks.

In mid-2004, WALTER S. DIEHL was among the Military Sealift Command ships supporting the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise around Hawaii. MSC reporting makes clear her main mission alongside fast combat support ship USNS RAINIER (T-AOE 7) and other auxiliaries: keep the multinational fleet fueled. Over the RIMPAC period, DIEHL provided fuel to dozens of participants operating from Pearl Harbor to instrumented ranges at sea. USS JOHN C. STENNIS's report from the same summer records a combined RAS with WALTER S. DIEHL and VERTREP with RAINIER that delivered on the order of 1.5 million gallons of JP-5 to the carrier air wing - illustrative of the volume DIEHL could move in a single evolution. In the exercise context, that throughput allowed flight operations to run continuously while surface units executed air-defense, anti-submarine, and strike training serials in a multinational setting.

On February 24, 2005, WALTER S. DIEHL began an extended forward deployment that shifted her regular operating pattern from the U.S. West Coast out into the numbered-fleet theaters, with frequent tasks in Seventh and Fifth Fleets. The move aligned with the U.S. Navy's sustained presence and maritime security operations in the western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Arabian Gulf, where ready access to fuel was essential for patrol patterns, carrier flight hours, and interdiction operations. During that first year forward, on May 6, 2005, she conducted an UNREP with the cruiser USS ANTIETAM (CG 54) in the North Arabian Gulf while ANTIETAM was engaged in maritime security operations. The image record underscores the oiler's routine presence on the security line supporting coalition patrols and oil-infrastructure protection. Later that year, on November 3, 2005, WALTER S. DIEHL topped off the conventionally powered carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) during a replenishment at sea in the Pacific, feeding the air wing's JP-5 demand as KITTY HAWK maintained regional presence.

Through 2005-2006, the oiler's deck log filled with high-tempo evolutions typical of a forward-deployed MSC tanker. In May 2005, she transited the Strait of Hormuz with an embarked Mobile Security Detachment providing additional force protection as Gulf maritime security tightened. On February 15, 2006, she simultaneously refueled USS ESSEX (LHD 2) and USS JUNEAU (LPD 10) in the Philippine Sea, and on April 4, 2006, she delivered aviation fuel to USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) while the carrier group conducted Western Pacific operations.

As Gulf of Aden piracy spiked in 2009, WALTER S. DIEHL supported maritime security forces there. On April 5, 2009, she vertically transferred cargo to USS BOXER (LHD 4) while that amphibious ready group operated in the region. In 2010-2011 she was a routine logistics partner for USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73), conducting repeated replenishments at sea in the Western Pacific on June 5, 2010; June 18, 2010; July 30, 2010; August 9, 2010; and again during the carrier's October 20, 2011, underway period from Yokosuka. Interoperability extended to allies as well; on October 31, 2011 she fueled JMSDF helicopter destroyer JS HYUGA during bilateral operations.

Humanitarian response became part of her operational rhythm. On November 15, 2013, WALTER S. DIEHL loaded humanitarian relief supplies at Singapore's Sembawang Wharves for shipment to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan, illustrating MSC's ability to flex from combat logistics to disaster relief. Following that period of heavy use, she entered a Regular Overhaul at Sembawang Shipyard and completed post-maintenance drills ashore on August 8, 2016. Later that summer she supported PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP 2016 alongside USNS MERCY (T-AH 19), executing a connected replenishment on August 15, 2016, as the hospital ship transited toward Padang, Indonesia. She also joined the large, joint U.S. exercise VALIANT SHIELD 2016 in the Philippine Sea. At exercise close on September 23, 2016, she appeared in the photo formation with ships from CARRIER STRIKE GROUP FIVE centered on USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76) and EXPEDITIONARY STRIKE GROUP SEVEN centered on USS BONHOMME RICHARD (LHD 6).

The ship continued that blend of allied engagement and humanitarian support in 2018. During PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP 2018 she conducted vertical replenishment with USNS MERCY on March 27, 2018, and two weeks earlier, on March 14, 2018, she performed an alongside evolution with Japan's helicopter destroyer JS ISE (DDH 182), underscoring day-to-day U.S.-Japan logistics interoperability.

In 2019, WALTER S. DIEHL figured repeatedly in the Western Pacific's strategic signaling and routine sustainment. On January 24, 2019, she transited the Taiwan Strait with USS McCAMPBELL (DDG 85); on May 22, 2019 she made another Taiwan Strait passage, this time paired with USS PREBLE (DDG 88). She refueled the U.S. Coast Guard national-security cutter USCGC BERTHOLF (WMSL 750) in the East China Sea on April 5, 2019, supported the WASP (LHD 1) ARG's USS ASHLAND (LSD 48) on February 11, 2019, and conducted multiple replenishments with USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76) on June 18, 2019 and August 1, 2019 - including one evolution highlighted by an all-female rig team aboard the carrier. Late in the year, on December 26, 2019, she was photographed steaming alongside USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74) as that carrier operated in the region.

Not every evolution was routine. On November 20, 2014, WALTER S. DIEHL and dry-cargo ship USNS AMELIA EARHART (T-AKE 6) made minor contact while beginning an UNREP in the Gulf of Aden. There were no injuries, and both ships continued their missions.

After fifteen years of forward-deployment that began on February 24, 2005, and saw the ship support numbered fleets from the Mediterranean to the Western Pacific, WALTER S. DIEHL shifted her hub from Naval Station San Diego to Naval Station Norfolk on September, 20, 2020. Her transit home crossed the U.S. Sixth Fleet area amid COVID-19 restrictions, with planners anticipating no liberty port calls en route. Following two additional years of service from the East Coast, she was inactivated on October, 1, 2022 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on November, 22, 2022.

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USNS WALTER S. DIEHL Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the USNS WALTER S. DIEHL at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on December 26, 2021.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the USNS WALTER S. DIEHL undergoing her deactivation availability at BAE Systems in Norfolk, Va., on September 6, 2022.

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