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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
USS Rigel Patch Contributed by Jim McCoy / USNS Patch Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USNS Rigel (T-AF-58)
ex
 USS Rigel (AF-58) (1955 - 1975)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Quebec - Sierra - India
 NQSI
JANAP Tactical Voice Radio Call Sign - Susanna (A)lpha - Section 6A of JANAP 119(F) 1968
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation (Op. Provide Comfort 1991) - Navy Expeditionary Medal (Iran/Indian Ocean 1978-79, Iran/Indian Ocean 1979-81), Lebanon, Libya
Bottom Row - National Defense Service Medal (3)- Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Lebanon) - Southwest Asia Service Medal
Rigel Class Stores Ship:
  • Laid down, 15 March 1954, as a Maritime Administration type (R3-S-4A) hull, under Maritime Administration contract (MA hull 36), at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
  • Launched, 15 March 1955
  • Commissioned USS Rigel (AF-58), 2 September 1955, CAPT. W. T. Griffith in command
  • Decommissioned, 30 June 1975
  • Placed in service by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS Rigel (T-AF-58), 23 June 1975
  • Placed out of service, date unknown
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 16 May 1994
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet
  • Custody transferred to the Maritime Administration, 1 April 1998, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Sold for scrapping in late 2003 at Able UK, Teeside, England, delivered but never scrapped because of environmental concerns
  • Final Disposition, resold for scrapping to All Star Metals, Brownsville, TX. for $469,626, announced by MARAD 16 July 2008
    Specifications:
    Displacement 15,150 t(fl)
    Length 502'
    Beam 72'
    Draft 29'
    Speed 21 kts.
    USS Complement 350
    Armament four dual mount 3"/50 gun mounts
    Propulsion 600psi cross compound steam turbine, single propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Rigel (AF-58)
    Rigel
    09065833    		 362k Rigel (AF-58) launching, 15 March 1955, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS. Dale Hargrave
    Rigel 108k USS Rigel (AF-58), at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA., 15 May 1955 Photo by Larry Bohn
    Rigel 85k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway in the Mediterranean Sea, date unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1959.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Rigel 14k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway , date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Rigel 63k USS Rigel (AF-58) at anchor, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Rigel 910k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway alongside USS Harwood (DD-861), date and location unknown, Official U.S. Navy photograph taken from an unidentified Essex class CVA. William R. Long Jr. USS Rigel May 1969 - November 1970
    Rigel
    AR-14-472(L) 6-60    		 928k USS Rigel (AF-58) during an underway replenishment with USS Cadmus (AR-14), circa 3 June 1960, location unknown.
    Official U.S. Navy Photographs - USS Cadmus [AR-14-472(L) 6-60] and USS Cadmus [AR-14-473(L) 6-60]    		 William R. Long Jr., USS Rigel
    Rigel
    AR-14-473(L) 6-60    		 929k
    Rigel 82k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway with a new Helicopter Extended Area Platform (HEAP) designed to speed replenishment.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, December 1961.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Rigel
    09065834    		 398k A U.S. Navy Piasecki HUP Retriever approaches the experimental helicopter extended area platform (HEAP) aboard USS Rigel (AF-58), designed to speed up underway replenishment.
    U.S. Navy "All Hands" magazine December 1961, p. 41.    		 Robert Hurst
    Rigel 96k USS Rigel (AF-58) pierside, NOB, Norfolk, VA., August 1964 © Richard Leonhardt
    Rigel 86k USS Rigel (AF-58) pierside, NOB, Norfolk, VA., August 1964. Waldron (DD-699) is in the background. © Richard Leonhardt
    Rigel 47k Cover of USS Rigel (AF-58) Welcome Aboard pamphlet, 1964-65 Jim McCoy USS Rigel 1964-65
    Rigel 88k USS Rigel (AF-58), Christmas card, 1964. Jim McCoy USS Rigel (AF-58) 1964-65
    Rigel 301k USS Rigel (AF-58) conducting an underway replenishment with USS Perry (DD-844) and USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42), circa 1964-1966, location unknown.
    Photo by Robert J. Hales, RM3, taken from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt    		 Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Rigel 248k USS Rigel (AF-58) departing Toulon, France, 7 September 1968 Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Rigel 127k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway in 1968, location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Robert Hurst
    Rigel
    09065835    		 637k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway, circa December 1964-January 1966, location unknown. Photo by LTjg. Lars Andersen, USNR, USS Kankakee (AO-39)
    Rigel 94k USS Franklin D.Roosevelt CVA-42) approaches USS Rigel (AF-58) while underway in the Mediterranean Sea in the spring of 1970 to begin a Replenishment at Sea (RAS). Photo by Eugene Williams USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
    Rigel 82k USS Rigel (AF-58) pier side at Kingston, Jamaica, probably 26 - 27 February 1971 with USS Koelsch (DE-1049), outboard to port. © Richard Leonhardt
    Rigel 55k USS Rigel (AF-58),Mediterranean Sea, circa 1970-71 Photo by Steve Gottlief
    Contributed by Jim McCoy
    Rigel 63k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway , date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Jim McCoy USS Rigel
    Rigel 79k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway , date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Rigel 116k USS Rigel (AF-58) underway , date and location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    USNS Rigel (T-AF-58)
    Rigel 136k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58), date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from MSC "Sealift Magazine"    		 Bill Valashinas
    Rigel 2059k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) at anchor at Genoa, Italy, 16 July 1977. Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Rigel 781k USS Rigel (AF-58) conducting an UNREP with USS Reeves (CG-24), with a Soviet Mod Kashin class destroyer keeping watch. Pacific Ocean, 15 March 1980. Photo taken from USS Nimitz (CVN-68).
    US Navy Photographic Center photo # 1177954 by PH2 Jim Brown, USN.    		 DCC(SS/SW) David Johnston, USN
    Sirius 92k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) and USNS Sirius (T-AFS-8) underway in the Mediterranean, circa 1981.
    US Navy photo    		 T.J. Tropea RM1 USN Ret. USNS Sirius
    Rigel 371k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) moored at Naval Station Subic Bay, P.I., 28 August 1981. Other ships include the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser USS Bainbridge (CGN-25) in the foreground. At left are the oiler USNS Hassayampa (T-AO-145), the guided missile cruiser USS Sterett (CG-31), the guided missile destroyer USS Henry B. Wilson (DDG-7) and the guided missile cruiser USS William H. Standley (CG-32).
    US National Archive # NN33300514 2005-06-30 a US Navy photo by PHC Larry Foster.    		 Robert Hurst
    Rigel 36k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58), at Barcelona, Spain, 6 June 1982. Rigel was the first of two built-for-the-purpose, fully refrigerated stores ships. Note helicopter platform aft, armament removed, MSC crest and blue and gold bands on stack. Photo by Fabio Peņa
    Rigel 362k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) underway at Genoa, Italy, 25 April 1986. Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Sirius
    09520841    		 46k Bow and stern views of, from left to right; USNS Rigel (T-AF-58), USNS Sirius (T-AFS-8) and USS Concord (AFS-5) moored at Malaga, Spain, circa 1-6 June 1986.
    US Navy photos    		 Photo by T.J. Tropea RM1 USN USNS Sirius
    Sirius
    09520842    		 56k
    Rigel 134k USNS Rigel (T-AF-58) underway , date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp

    For more photos and information about USS Rigel, see;
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
  • USS Rigel (AF-58) Change of Command, 27 February 1970 pamphlet
    • Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Griffith, Walter Thomas. USN (USNA 1934)2 September 1955 - 4 January 1956, Portsmouth Naval Hospital
    02LCDR. Claer, L.R., USN (acting)4 January 1956 - 12 January 1956
    03CAPT. Hay, Richard Ross, USN (USNA 1931)12 January 1956 - 12 July 1956
    04CAPT. Fyfe, John Kerr, USN (USNA 1936) :RADM12 July 1956 - June 1957
    05CAPT. Foster Jr., Clifford Smith, USN (USNA 1933)June 1957 - May 1958
    06CAPT. Ketcham, Gerald Lyle, USNMay 1958 - May 1959
    07CAPT. Maher, Eugene Hugh, USN (USNA 1932)May 1959 - 12 April 1960
    08CAPT. Schumann Jr., Roland Weyburn, USN (USNA 1939)12 April 1960 - 1 March 1961
    09CAPT. Quinn, Robert Daniel, USN (USNA 1940)1 March 1961 - January 1962
    10CAPT. Guinn, Dick Henry, USN (USNA 1941) :VADMJanuary 1962 - 28 February 1963
    11CAPT. Lockett Jr., Lawrence Stephen USN (USNA 1940) 28 February 1963 - 3 March 1964
    12CAPT. Macri, Guiseppi, USN (USNA 1941)3 March 1964 - 12 March 1965
    13CAPT. Biddle, Edward, USN (USNA 1944)12 March 1965 - 19 March 1966
    14CAPT. Bradshaw, Harold George, USN 19 March 1966 - January 1967
    15CAPT. Schwemley, Paul Albert, USN (USNA 1946)January 1967 - 1968
    16CAPT. Johnson, Theodore Lloyd, USN (USNA 1945)1968 - 27 February 1970
    17CAPT. Peters, Bernard, USN (USNA 1946)27 February 1970 - 1971
    18CAPT. Brackin, John David, USN 1971 - 1973
    19CDR. Pappas, Jimmy, USN :VADM1973 - 14 November 1974
    20CDR. Glickman, Thomas Walter, USN 14 November 1974 - 30 June 1975
    Courtesy CAPT. Tom Glickman USN Ret. / Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves, Photos courtesy Bill Gonyo
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additinal Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    MARAD Vessel History Database
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Stores Ship (AF) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 14 November 2025