USS ''Wakulla'' (AOG-44) was a ''Mettawee''-class gasoline tanker acquired by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

for the dangerous task of transporting gasoline to warships in the fleet, and to remote Navy stations. The second ship to be named ''Wakulla'', ''AOG-44'' was laid down on 31 October 1944 under a

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The c ...

contract (MC hull 2070) at

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the Gateway Region on Bergen Neck, a peninsula between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York ...

, by the

East Coast Shipyards East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ...

, Inc.; launched on 17 December 1944; sponsored by Mrs. J. I. McClain; accepted by the Navy on 15 January 1945; converted to naval use at the builder's yard; and commissioned at the

New York Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York, U.S. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...

on 3 February 1945. Named in honor of Wakulla County, FL.

World War II service

Following trials in

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and

shakedown Shakedown or Shake Down may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational ...

out of

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, ''Wakulla'' got underway on 23 March 1945 for the Netherlands West Indies. She loaded a full cargo of

diesel oil Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...

and high-octane gasoline at

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

and shaped course westward.

Pacific Ocean operations

She passed through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

from 5 April to 7 April, arrived at

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, on the 22d, and got underway for the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

on the 30th. Assigned to

Service Squadron A Service Squadron (ServRon) was a United States Navy squadron that supported fleet combat ships and US Navy Auxiliary ships. Service Squadrons were used by the US Navy from their inception in 1943 to as late as the early 1980s. At the time of t ...

(ServRon) 8 soon after her 11 May arrival at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

, ''Wakulla'' subsequently made one voyage to

Canton Island Canton Island (also known as Kanton or Abariringa), previously known as Mary Island, Mary Balcout's Island or Swallow Island, is the largest, northernmost, and , the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. It i ...

in the Phoenix group and two to

Johnston Island Johnston Atoll is an unincorporated territory of the United States, under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force (USAF). The island is closed to public entry, and limited access for management needs is only granted by a letter of autho ...

—each time with full cargoes of high-octane gasoline. During one of her cruises to Johnston, she interrupted unloading operations to put to sea and tow ''LST-765'' into port after a damaged screw and an inoperable

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

had left the tank landing ship adrift. ''Wakulla'' served as yard oiler at

through VJ-day.

Post-war activity

After ServRon 8 was disestablished in September, the gasoline tanker operated under the dual control of the Commandant,

14th Naval District United States Naval Districts is a system created by the United States Navy to organize military facilities, numbered sequentially by geographic region, for the operational and administrative control of naval bases and shore commands in the Unit ...

, and Commander, Service Force, Pacific Fleet, into late 1945.

Decommissioning

She sailed for the

U.S. West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S. states of Cali ...

in January 1946 and was decommissioned at

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, on 13 June 1946. ''Wakulla'' was struck from the

Navy list A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

on 19 July 1946 and transferred to the

on 14 November 1946 where she was sold the same day for commercial service to the Oriental Trade & Transport Co where she was renamed ''Mei An''. In 1948, she was sold to the Standard Vacuum Co and renamed ''Stanvac Ogan'' where she served until 1963 when she was sold to Petroleum Sg Service and renamed ''Sea Raven''. Sold again in 1968 to Mobil Oil Malaya, she was renamed ''Mobil Service'' and served as such until 1980 when she was scrapped.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakulla (AOG-44) Mettawee-class gasoline tankers Type T1-M-A2 tankers of the United States Navy Ships built in Bayonne, New Jersey 1944 ships World War II auxiliary ships of the United States