USS Jason (AR-8)

USS Jason (AR-8) in 1993
History
United States
Name	USS Jason
Namesake	Jason
Builder	Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, San Pedro, California
Laid down	9 March 1942
Launched	3 April 1943
Commissioned	19 June 1944
Decommissioned	24 June 1995
Reclassified	AR-8, 9 September 1957
Stricken	24 June 1995
Motto	Ready Willing Able
Nickname(s)	Jolly J
Honors and awards	Korean Service Medal 3 campaign stars (Vietnam)
Fate	Scrapped, 2007
General characteristics
Class and type	Vulcan class repair ship
Displacement	9,430 long tons (9,581 t) light 17,000 long tons (17,273 t) full
Length	530 ft (160 m)
Beam	77 ft (23 m)
Draft	26 ft (7.9 m)
Propulsion	4 × Babcock Wilcox Express A Type 400psi Boilers, 2 × steam turbines, 2 propeller shafts, 11,000 shp (8,203 kW)
Speed	19.2 knots (35.6 km/h; 22.1 mph)
Complement	1,297
Armament	4 × single 5"/38 dual purpose guns (removed 1979) 4 × 20 mm guns cannons

USS Jason (AR-8) was the fourth of the Vulcan class repair ship of the United States Navy in service from 1944 to 1995, serving in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. At the time of her decommissioning, Jason was (with the exception of USS Constitution) the oldest ship in continual commission in the United States Navy, and the final ship in continual commission from World War II onward.