The Town of Tappahannock has rescued its maritime namesake from sailing into a fog of obscurity with the dedication in July of the USS Tappahannock memorial, a 5’ x 4’ blue granite slab on an angled pedestal anchoring the courthouse square. Residents looked on as local luminaries gathered to mark the installation of the nearly two-ton tablet, which features a carved silhouette of the ship and inscription and was crafted by Parker Memorials & Stone and Dixie Granite Company.
The ceremony included remarks by Mayor Roy M. Gladding; Bill Croxton, Essex County Economic Development Authority; I.C. Smith, U.S. Navy veteran, former police officer and former FBI agent; Nathan (Nate) Parker IV, June Parker Marina; and Brandon Wooten, a chief engineer with the U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command.
I.C. Smith, U.S. Navy veteran, former police officer and former FBI agent, addresses citizens gathered for the memorial dedication ceremony. Looking on are (seated l-r): Brandon Wooton, U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command; Bill Croxton, Essex County Economic Development Authority; Nate Parker, June Parker Marina; Mayor Roy M. Gladding; Barbara Sethmann, vice president, Essex County Museum and Historical Society; and Pastor Roy Foster, Upper Essex Baptist Church.
“We always talk about recognizing the history of our past,” said Mayor Gladding in his opening remarks. “We are here today to make history.”
The USS Tappahannock (AO-43) was a fleet oiler in the United States Navy, one of the hundreds of service vessels which kept the fleet replenished and repaired. The ship served for 30 years during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, earning nine battle stars for WWII and nine campaign stars for Vietnam. The ship served in the South Pacific, China Sea, Mediterranean, Northern European waters, Caribbean, Hawaiian Islands and the Middle East. One of the longest-serving ships on the Navy’s rolls, the USS Tappahannock was launched in April 1942 and decommissioned in March 1970 and struck from the Navy’s rolls in 1976.
The USS Tappahannock, AO-43 (center), refuels the USS Bon Homme Richard, CV-31, and USS Missouri, BB-63, in July of 1945. Courtesy of U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation.
Unheralded and often forgotten, the service vessels were vital to the very existence and capability of aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, and other better-known combatants. Without service ships, the Navy’s fighting forces could not perform their missions.
“Today we gather here to pay our respects to a great ship,” said Wooten, keynote speaker at the dedication ceremony. “When we think about the Navy, images usually come to mind of great aircraft carriers, planes, Tom Cruise in his F-14, but I’m here to tell you, ships don’t sail, submarines don’t submerge, and planes don’t fly without fuel,” he said. “The USS Tappahannock was a fleet oiler, it allowed those ships to take the fight to the enemy.”
The 520-foot, 22,000-ton ship had a capacity of 133,000 barrels of oil, about 18,000 tons’ worth, a 214 enlisted-man crew, along with a complement of officers. It was often the target of enemy fire and its duty was hazardous.
Tri Parker prepares to unload the nearly two-ton granite monument.
Wooten described a 1943 incident, as the Tappahannock was steaming away from Guadalcanal. The oiler, along with two destroyer escorts and their formation, came under attack by seven Japanese fighter planes. The ships had unknowingly steamed directly in the path of a segment of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s force as it made its last thrust against the American Navy in the Solomon Islands. “The prime target was the USS Tappahannock,” Wooten said; “because the enemy understood the importance of fuel. You take the oiler out, you limit every other ship in the fleet.”
An exhibit featuring the USS Tappahannock at the Essex County Museum.
Bombs narrowly missed her deck, sending great fountains of water over her bridge. Despite losing its engines in the bomb attack, the Tappahannock fought bravely for her very life, downing two planes, even as its engineer brought the ship back to life after 15 minutes. By that time, the planes were gone, and “the Tappahannock was back doing her job,” Wooten said.
In addition to doing her job, the Tappahannock rescued sailors from vessels that were sunk by Japanese aircraft and submarines. At the end of WWII, the ship was in Tokyo Bay at the time of the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri.
U.S. Navy oilers were traditionally named for rivers and streams with Native American names — Neosho, Monongahela, Neches, among others — the Tappahannock was an exception. As the story goes, the naming of the ship was a product of a friendship. In the years leading up to WWII, Mr. James P. Casbarian, president of the Bank of Maryland, and his wife, spent many pleasant weekends and holidays at the Riverside Hotel, a Tappahannock resort formerly located at the end of Prince Street on the Rappahannock River. A strong friendship developed between the Casbarians and Mr. Stanley S. Mundy, manager of the Riverside. When Mundy learned that Mrs. Casbarian was employed by the Navy Department and involved in the naming and christening of all naval vessels, Mundy asked her to name a ship after the town. And so, it came to be.
Uniforms and mementos from the USS Tappahannock are a highlight of the exhibit at the Essex County Museum.
The USS Tappahannock was not only unheralded, it was almost unknown until John Lewis and I.C. Smith launched a mission to restore its memory. The ship caught Lewis’s eye when he saw its picture on a wall at Norfolk Naval Base. Lewis went online and found the photo and forwarded it to Nate Parker, who posted it on the June Parker Marina Facebook page in October 2017. In early December, I.C. Smith, a member of the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association, came across a brief reference to a Navy destroyer being refueled by the USS Tappahannock, which prompted him to do further research about the vessel.
Tri Parker and his son Nate mark the successful installation of the USS Tappahannock Memorial.
Although the existence of the USS Tappahannock was known to Nathan “June” Parker, Jr., and the Essex County Museum and Historical Society for many years, and its picture has been in Lowery’s Restaurant, its existence had not been publicly celebrated. June Parker wanted to see a memorial to the ship many years ago, but the idea never gained traction. The ship captured his imagination in part because it was an oiler, and Parker was in the oil business.
To restore the vessel’s place in local history, I.C. Smith, Essex History Museum, The Woman’s Club of Essex County, and The Town of Tappahannock worked together to raise funds to cover the cost of the monument, now proudly displayed for the community. The museum also created an exhibit and features USS Tappahannock memorabilia in its Rappahannock River Gift Shop. To aid in fundraising, I.C. Smith designed and produced special USS Tappahannock commemorative coins, which will be given to those who donate to the project. Any person donating $10 or more to the Essex History Museum or the Woman’s Club will receive a coin.
Admiring the new memorial are (l-r) Mayor Roy Gladding, I.C. Smith, Nate Parker, Walter Hugh Belfield, Bill Croxton, and Larry Sisson.
The monument was designed, ordered and installed by Tri Parker of June Parker Memorials. I.C. Smith helped with the design, and Tri’s son Nate Parker was on hand for the installation. June Parker Memorials, in business for almost 80 years, is a company that was founded by Tri Parker’s father, June Parker, upon his return home from his tour of duty in WWII. Parker spent time in Italy during the war and was impressed by the beautiful stone monuments there. He decided to bring a similar craftsmanship in granite and marble to his hometown families, thus preserving their memories — in stone forever.
Nate Parker spoke to the community before unveiling the Tappahannock memorial. “My grandfather knew that one of Tappahannock’s most valuable resources is its history, and it should be preserved,” he said. “Even though the USS Tappahannock never sailed on the Rappahannock River, it was an important oiler that provided one of the most necessary services to our greatest generation for winning World War II. It represented our great town through the waves of WWII, Korea and Vietnam.”