I served on this ship. Why was the painted on hull designation OE4 and not AOE4? want to know since I want a custom veterans license plate for my motorcycle my truck has the AOE4 plate. thanks.

You could try asking someone at the association.

http://www.aesailors.com/

Cheers,
Joe

great link....new to me. thanks.

If I remember correctly, the "A" is the designation for "Auxiliary" with the "O" and "E" standing for fleet oiler (AO), and ammunition ship (AE). As far as I knew, any auxiliary ship only carried the type designation, not the letter "A" since it was already assumed to be an auxiliary. For example, I served on the submarine tender Emory S. Land, AS-39, but painted on her hull was "S 39". Your ship would be in the same situation.

David

That makes perfect sense, sorry for the late reply. On the navy records it list my old ship as AOE4, so I guess it would have been necessary to paint only the OE4 on the hull since what you would see before you is obviously an auxiliary ship. I spent more than a few days painting that ship that has been bugging me for decades thanks.