The limited speed, range, and payload of early underway replenishment (UnRep) groups prevented resupply due to bad weather and tactical demands of the war.

The keel for the first of the Navy's fast combat support ships was laid at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington on 30 June 1961.

The traditional champagne bottle was broken against the bow of AOE-1 on 14 September 1963, by the ship's sponsor, Mrs. Edmund Brown, wife of the Governor of California.

He added the ship would be able to "run in speed with a destroyer escort, thereby giving our fast attack carrier task forces a flexibility of action hitherto unknown."

The Lincoln sustained damage to her catwalks, an aircraft elevator was jammed into the up position and an approximately 10 ft2 hole was torn into the island.

The Sacramento routinely went head-to-head in speed runs and won against the west coast's AOE's, including the Camden (AOE-2) and the Rainier (AOE-7).

[citation needed] This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.