USS Nereus (AS 17)

back to top

go to the end of the page

back to top

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS NEREUS. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

• Click here to view the list.

back to top

go to the end of the page

• Click here to see which USS NEREUS memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

back to top

go to the end of the page

Accidents aboard USS NEREUS:

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS NEREUS History:

USS NEREUS was laid down 11 October 1943 by U.S. Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, Vallejo, Calif.; launched 12 February 1945; sponsored by Mrs. A. M. Hurst; and commissioned 27 October 1945, Captain L. D. Follmer in command.

Submarine tenders enabled the Navy to move into a conquered island and in a matter of a day or so have a submarine base in full commission, able to service and repair any submarines regardless of its type or special equipment. At island bases in World War II, submarine tenders worked indefatigably to keep the submarine at sea and on the firing line.

After shakedown in the fall of 1945, the new submarine tender departed 15 December for Japan. Arriving Sasebo early in 1946, she stripped 39 Japanese submarines of all usable equipment and material before towing them to sea and sinking them with her guns in Operation “Roads End” 1 and 2 April.

Soon underway for home, she arrived San Diego 13 May for a year of submarine service and repair work. On 28 June 1947, she got underway for Operation “Blue Nose.” This cruise was entirely novel for a submarine tender. Together with the submarines BOARFISH (SS 327), CAIMAN (SS 323), and CABEZON (SS 334), NEREUS was assigned to TG 17.3. On 15 July she left for the Aleutian Islands where Rear Admiral Alan 11. McCann, Commander Submarine Force Pacific came aboard. The group was underway again 25 July, this time for the Pribiloff Islands. During this transit Army Air Force planes based at Adak took part in the antisubmarine training. On 30 July NEREUS passed through the Bering Strait and crossed the Arctic Circle.

Following along the International Date Line, the ships of Operation “Blue Nose” sighted pack ice on the morning of 1 August 1947. After reaching 72’15’ north latitude, the ships continued independently along the ice pack to determine its shape.

Before returning to her home port of San Diego, NEREUS visited Norton Bay, Kodiak, Juneau, and Vancouver, B.C. The cruise was followed by the ship’s first overhaul, at Mare Island.

Since 1948, NEREUS has been primarily engaged in submarine repair and services at San Diego, Calif. During these two decades of faithful service keeping the Navy’s submarines at peak fighting trim, NEREUS made occasional cruises to Pearl Harbor; to Acapulco, Mexico; and various west coast ports. In 1948 she was camera ship photographing the sinking of cruiser SALT LAKE CITY some 130 miles off the west coast. In the spring of 1955, she accompanied submarines TUNNY (SSG 282), CARBONERO (SS 339) and CUSK (SS 348) to Pearl Harbor and acted as observer ship and advance base headquarters during the first firing of operational missiles from submarines.

In November 1960, HALIBUT (SSGN 587) came alongside NEREUS, the first nuclear submarine to be serviced by a tender on the west coast. The following year she ministered to fleet ballistic missile (Polaris) submarine THEODORE ROOSEVELT (SSBN 600). In the fall of 1964, NEREUS provided underwater support for the operational evaluation of the ASROC weapons system. Two years later her versatility in servicing SHIELDS (DD 596) won her praise from ComSubPac, and the destroyer’s captain.

NEREUS entered the U.S. Naval Shipyard at Mare Island, Vallejo, Calif. 1 November for overhaul until 7 April 1967. Following refresher training she reported to ComSubFlot 1 for duty 11 May. That month she visited Acapulco, Mexico and became flagship for ComSubFlot 1 and ComSubRon 5. In the fall of 1967, UNIVAC 1500 data processing equipment was installed to speed the tender operations.

In 1968, NEREUS settled into a steady pattern: she remained based at San Diego and acted as the primary tender and administrative hub for submarines attached to Submarine Flotilla 1 and Submarine Squadron 5. Submarines would moor alongside or nearby so that her machine shops, electrical shops, electronics repair sections and weapons departments could carry out work ranging from routine voyage repairs to more substantial maintenance between deployments. The new data-processing system helped the staff and ship's company manage maintenance schedules, parts inventories and personnel records at a time when nuclear-powered submarines with more complex systems were becoming more common. Although NEREUS herself stayed close to San Diego rather than deploying to distant theaters, her support work underpinned operations in the wider Pacific: boats returning from Western Pacific or Vietnam-related deployments came alongside her to be turned around for the next patrol or exercise.

Through 1969 and 1970 this routine continued. NEREUS served submarines of the Pacific Fleet and, in the official description, helped keep them at a high state of readiness. Day-to-day, this meant that her crew carried out thousands of repair and maintenance tasks on the hull, propulsion equipment, combat systems and hotel services of the submarines tied up alongside. She also provided hotel services - electrical power, steam, water, and berthing overflow - to boats in upkeep status. As flagship, she housed the flotilla and squadron command spaces, so operational planning and maintenance coordination for the San Diego submarine community were physically centered on board NEREUS. Strategically, these years coincided with the height of the Vietnam War and ongoing Cold War antisubmarine efforts in the Pacific, and the tender's role was to ensure that the submarines assigned to those missions could return to sea on schedule and in full working order.

By 1971, the Navy's submarine-tender force was beginning to change. Newer tenders, designed specifically with nuclear boats in mind, and shore-based facilities at major bases were taking over more of the support load. NEREUS, a World War II-era ship that had already been modernized more than once, was selected for retirement. She remained at San Diego while decommissioning preparations went forward: sensitive equipment and some reusable systems were removed, stores were run down, and the crew was reduced as responsibilities were handed over to other tenders and shore activities. On 27 October 1971, USS NEREUS was decommissioned at San Diego, ending twenty-six years of active commissioned service as a submarine tender.

After decommissioning, NEREUS was towed north to Bremerton, Washington, and placed in the inactive fleet at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. There she lay for many years in reserve, moored with other decommissioned auxiliaries. Her armament and many internal fittings were gone, but her hull was maintained at a basic preservation standard. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Navy gradually reduced the number of mothballed World War II-era ships it maintained, and NEREUS remained in this inactive status while decisions were made about her final disposition.

In the early 1990s, NEREUS was transferred from the Navy's inactive fleet to the Maritime Administration and moved to the National Defense Reserve Fleet anchorage at Suisun Bay, California. There, she joined the so-called "ghost fleet", rows of laid-up ships moored together under MARAD custody. Her final years were shaped less by naval operational needs than by environmental and budgetary considerations: maintaining large numbers of aging hulls was costly, and new regulations required the removal of hazardous materials and better control of pollutants from laid-up ships. As with other former Navy vessels in Suisun Bay, she underwent cleaning and preparation for disposal, including removal of remaining hazardous substances.

Once those preparations were complete, NEREUS was towed from Suisun Bay to Brownsville, Texas, where she was broken up at a commercial ship-recycling yard, a process completed in 2012. With that, the physical life of USS NEREUS came to an end.

back to top

go to the end of the page