USS Butte (AE-27) - Decommissioning

Decommissioning

She was decommissioned on 3 June 1996 and placed in service with the Military Sealift Command, where she became USNS Butte (T-AE-27). Like five of the six other ships of her class, she was overhauled upon the transfer: accommodations were improved, the main armament was taken out and she was outfitted for reduced civilian crewing. On 24 May 2004, she was put out of service by the MSC, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and transferred to the NAVSEA Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia awaiting her disposal. On 3 July 2006, Butte was sunk as a target off the east coast of the United States using Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles and a Mark 48 torpedo fired from USS San Juan. Coincidentally, the previous USS Butte was also sunk deliberately in 1948 after use as a target ship in Operation Crossroads.