CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

USNS Mission Santa Ana

ship built in 1944

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 10, 2025
Entity authorityQ7866641 ↗
Source-derived summary

USNS Mission Santa Ana (T-AO-137) was a Mission Buenaventura-class oiler that served in the United States Navy. The ship was originally intended as USS Concho (AO-102) for the U.S. Navy but her acquisition was canceled. The ship, a Type T2-SE-A3 tanker, was completed as SS Mission Santa Ana and delivered after the end of World War II. The tanker was acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1948 as USS Mission Santa Ana (AO-137), but was transferred to the Military Sea Transport Service upon its creation in 1949. The ship was named for the Santa Ana Estancia (a station of Mission San Juan Capistrano, one of the twenty-one California missions), she was the only U.S. Naval Vessel to bear the name.

Career

Originally laid down as Concho on 18 April 1945 as a Maritime Commission type (T2-SE-A3) tanker hull under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1828) by Marinship Corporation of Sausalito, California; launched on 25 July 1945, sponsored by Mrs. D. J. Johnson; and delivered on 25 October 1945.

Chartered to Pacific Tankers Inc. for operations, she carried fuel to American forces stationed overseas (during which time she was awarded the National Defense Service Medal) until 3 April 1946 when she was returned to the Maritime Commission and laid up in the Maritime Reserve Fleet at Columbia River, Oregon.

Acquired by the Navy on 9 January 1948 and chartered to Pacific Tankers Inc. for operations, she was placed in service with the Naval Transportation Service as Mission Santa Ana (AO‑137).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “USNS Mission Santa Ana” as ship built in 1944. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1948, 1949, 1945, 1828—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where USNS, Mission and Santa can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as ship built in 1944. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 10, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7866641. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1948, 1949, 1945 and 1828.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “USNS Mission Santa Ana”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow USNS Mission Santa Ana primary sources, USNS Mission Santa Ana archive and USNS research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “USNS Mission Santa Ana”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “USNS Mission Santa Ana” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.