Wreck of USS/USNS Kilauea (T-AE-26)

 military, shipwreck, auxiliary, United States Navy

Laid down at the General Dynamics Quincy Shipyard in March 1966 as the lead ship in her class of Ammunition Ships built for the US Navy, USS Kilauea commissioned into service in August 1968 as a member of the US Pacific Fleet.

Immediately deployed to provide both ammunition and stores to the ships of the US Navy conducting combat operations off Vietnam, the Kilauea and her crew would remain so engaged for the next four years until the cessation of hostilities in 1972. With four Campaign Stars for her Vietnam War operations to her credit, the Kilauea assumed a normal routine of peacetime deployments and exercises as a member of the US Pacific Fleet for the next eight years until her decommissioning from US Navy service on October 1st, 1980.

Activated for service with the Military Sealift Command on the same day, Kilauea joined the MSC's Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force and continued her role as an Ammunition Ship with a mixed civilian/USN crew. Returning to combat operations in 1990 as a member of the naval task force supporting Operation Desert Shield, the Kilauea was subsequently assigned to the supply the 3rd Marine Amphibious Group and Carrier Battlegroups formed around the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and USS Midway (CV-41) during Operation Desert Storm through April 17, 1991. Making repeated deployments to the Persian Gulf in the years following the First Gulf War, Kilauea continued to serve with the Military Sealift Command until her 2007 assignment to Reduced Operating Status and subsequent deactivation in 2008.

Towed to Port Huneme, CA and eventually to NISMF Pearl Harbor for stripping of reusable materials to support her still-active sisterships, Kilauea was held in Category X Reserve through 2012 and listed on the US Navy's target ship roster after the completion of environmental remediation aboard ship. Towed out of Pearl Harbor in mid-July 2012, the Kilauea was set adrift roughly 63 miles Northwest of Kauai and used as a target ship for RIMPAC 2012. Coming into the crosshairs of the Royal Australian Navy's Attack Submarine HMAS Farncomb (SSG-74) on the morning of July 22nd, Kilauea was struck by a single Mark 48 heavyweight torpedo and sank at 0932hrs in 15,480ft of water.

www.navsource.org/archives/09/05/0526.htm
Video of the SINKEX:
video.defence.gov.au/?MediaId=abee3eef-1774-42c9-9786-c...