USS Willamette (AO-180) was the fourth ship in the Cimarron class of fleet replenishment oilers for the United States Navy in service from 1981 to 1999.

Leaving New Orleans was delayed as the initial fuel load at Avondale had caused the ship to sink into the bottom of the river.

Starting on 15 January 1985 the ship deployed on her first WESTPAC (western pacific) cruise and visited Guam, Subic Bay, Hong Kong, Pusan, Korea, Sasebo, Kagoshima, Yokosuka, and Shimoda, Japan.

During a formation steaming exercise on 10 February 1986 about 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) southwest Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Willamette collided with the repair ship USS Jason.

On the bridge of Willamette as the ship withdrew after the engines were applied full astern, the view of a triangle-shaped void from the weather deck to below the water line where the bow had pierced Jason's hull was unforgettable.

This void was filled with the bright stark white fluorescent lights from multiple decks on Jason amid the darkness of the night and the smoke and flames on the bow of Willamette.

After a brief three-day stop in Subic Bay, the ship left port again and steamed at a flank bell all the way to the Singapore Straights before slowing down.

After departing the Seychelles the ship sailed to Diego Garcia to take on fuel and supplies and then rejoined Battle Group Bravo and proceeded up the Red Sea to the southern entrance of the Suez Canal.

While the Battle Group was in the middle of transiting the Suez Canal, USS Stark was hit and heavily damaged by an Exocet missile fired by an Iraqi fighter.

After clearing the Suez Canal, for a period of about 24 hours, Battle Group Bravo steamed in a holding pattern in the Mediterranean Sea awaiting instructions.

Willamette detached from Battle Group Bravo mid-Atlantic Ocean and proceeded on to San Juan, Puerto Rico and then on to stop in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

The mid-body also featured an additional emergency diesel generator and two "Standard Tensioned Replenishment Alongside Method" (STREAM) cargo stations.

Damage included bowed boiler casings, sprung steam pipes and major cracks in the exhaust stack and economizer.

Half a year later USNS John Ericsson, the replacement ship for Willamette arrived in Pearl Harbor.

Her 17-year career took her around the world where she performed underway replenishment (UNREP) and operations under all four (Second, Third, Sixth and Seventh) fleet commanders.

During her time in service, she performed more than 1,300 underway replenishments, transferred more than 300 million gallons of fuel and has operated with the navies of Australia, Canada, France, England, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand and Venezuela.

Willamette was the last U.S. Navy manned auxiliary oiler assigned to U.S. Pacific Fleet and was the last steam-propelled warship home ported in Pearl Harbor.

On 10 June 1999 the ship was towed out of Pearl Harbor en route to the mothball fleet at Suisun Bay, Benicia, California (USA).

Two years later, on 28 July 2001 Willamette was disposed of by Navy title transfer to the Maritime Administration to be part of the Naval Defense Reserve Fleet.