Jan.10, 2003
I stumbled upon the Mississinewa site recently and thought I would send you a couple of photos
( photos ) I took while I was stationed on her back in 1978-1979. She was my first ship I served on while on active duty as a radioman in her later days when she was with the Military Sealift Command as USNS Mississinewa. 
At that time she had a navy detachment of eight radioman, two signalman, a chief yeoman, and one officer. The rest of the crew were civilian -- under 100 total as I recall. I met the ship in the middle of her two-year deployment to the Mediterranean, where her "home away from home" was Augusta Bay in Sicily. At that time the Missy and the Neosho would take turns steaming the eastern or western Med and swapping places now and then. We would usually steam alone, going out for two weeks at a time and making a big circle while performing UNREPs, usually for the USS Nimitz or USS America task force (TF 63) that was covering the Med. 
What great duty it was. The civilian chefs served up steak twice a week and prime rib every Sunday, and us enlisted guys enjoyed the luxary of two-man staterooms with our own head between two rooms. Boy, did that help take some of the sting out of those two-year deployments! Would sure enjoy hearing from any others out there that served on her when she was with MSC.