Qualla: USS Neches (AO-5) https://qualla.com/uss-neches-ao-5 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: USS Neches (AO-5) https://qualla.com/uss-neches-ao-5 USS Neches (AO-5): Introduction https://qualla.com/uss-neches-ao-5/ The captain went down in his pajamas. Commander William Bartlett Fletcher Jr. was among the fifty-seven men who died when USS Neches sank at 4:37 in the morning on January 23, 1942 -- barely six weeks after Pearl Harbor. The fleet oiler had spent twenty years as one of the Navy's unglamorous workhorses, hauling fuel oil and gasoline to warships across the Pacific. She was on her way to refuel an aircraft carrier task force when a Japanese submarine found her in the dark, a hundred miles west of Kauai.

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]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/7/w/p/uss-neches-ao-5-wp/87wp-uss-neches-ao-5-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full USS Neches (AO-5): Twenty Years of Fuel and Gasoline https://qualla.com/uss-neches-ao-5/ Neches was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard on June 8, 1919, launched in June 1920, and commissioned that October. Originally classified as Fuel Ship No. 17, she spent her early years with the Atlantic Fleet, performing the essential but unglamorous work of keeping warships fuel...

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]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/7/w/p/uss-neches-ao-5-wp/87wp-uss-neches-ao-5-twenty-years-of-fuel-and-gasoline.mp3 0:06 2 full USS Neches (AO-5): A War Begins at the Fuel Dock https://qualla.com/uss-neches-ao-5/ Neches was underway from San Diego to Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. She arrived three days later, rapidly offloaded her cargo, and hurried back to San Pedro to take on more supplies for the damaged base. On December 28, while returning to Pearl Harb...

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]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/7/w/p/uss-neches-ao-5-wp/87wp-uss-neches-ao-5-a-war-begins-at-the-fuel-dock.mp3 0:06 3 full USS Neches (AO-5): Ninety Minutes in the Dark https://qualla.com/uss-neches-ao-5/ On the afternoon of January 22, 1942, Neches steamed out of Pearl Harbor headed west to rendezvous with a carrier task force that needed refueling. Shortly after midnight on the 23rd, the watch spotted what appeared to be a submarine about a thousand yards away and took evasive a...

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]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/7/w/p/uss-neches-ao-5-wp/87wp-uss-neches-ao-5-ninety-minutes-in-the-dark.mp3 0:06 4 full USS Neches (AO-5): The Fletcher Legacy https://qualla.com/uss-neches-ao-5/ Commander Fletcher, who died with his ship, was the son of Rear Admiral William Bartlett Fletcher Sr. The younger Fletcher's death in the opening weeks of the Pacific war did not end the family's naval service -- he would posthumously be promoted and recognized. The loss of Neche...

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]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/8/7/w/p/uss-neches-ao-5-wp/87wp-uss-neches-ao-5-the-fletcher-legacy.mp3 0:06 5 full