USS Tippecanoe ( AO - 21 ) USS " Tippecanoe " ( AO - 21 ) was a " Patoka " class fleet replenishment oiler of the United States Navy . The ship was laid down on 1 October 1919 at Newport News , Virginia , by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co . ; launched on 5 June 1920 ; delivered to the United States Shipping Board late that year ; and acquired by the Navy at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 6 March 1922 . Service history . " Tippecanoe " remained inactive at Mare Island for almost two decades before she was finally placed in commission on 6 March 1940 , Comdr . Hugh W . Olds in command . The oiler was assigned to Squadron 8 , Base Force Train , and operated between the west coast and the Hawaiian Islands for the next two years . Her most frequent ports of call were Pearl Harbor , San Pedro , San Francisco , San Diego , and Seattle . When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 , fortune ordained that " Tippecanoe " be safe in San Francisco . During the first three months of the war , the oiler steamed up and down the west coast between San Diego , San Pedro , San Francisco , and Seattle . She did not leave the west coast until 3 February when she headed back to Hawaii . She entered Pearl Harbor on the 17th and lay over there until 3 March when she headed for the South Pacific . After a brief stop at Pago Pago , Samoa , the ship put to sea on 15 March and headed to an area north of New Caledonia to fuel Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher ' s Task Force 17 ( TF17 ) . She returned to the vicinity of Samoa on 26 March , visited Tongatapu on 6 April , and put into Noumea , New Caledonia , on the 26th . On 1 May , the oiler put to sea to rendezvous with TF 17 once more . She made contact with Rear Admiral Aubrey W . Fitch ' s task unit — built around — and , on the 2nd and 3rd , fueled the venerable carrier and her supporting ships . Drained bone dry , " Tippecanoe " then headed for Efate where she arrived on 4 May , the day Rear Admiral Fletcher ' s airmen struck the Japanese seaplane base at Tulagi to open the preliminaries of the historic action that stopped Japan ' s southward advance . During the Battle of the Coral Sea itself , " Tippecanoe " remained in the haven at Efate . On 8 May , she got underway and , for a time , joined Vice Admiral William F . Halsey ' s recently arrived TF 16 — built around carriers and . She stopped at Noumea on 11 May and then continued on to Samoa , reaching Tutuila on 24 May . Four days later , she put to sea to return to Hawaii and entered Pearl Harbor on the 30th . On 1 July , she left Oahu to conduct nearly a month of operations with TF 18 before returning on the 26th . " Tippecanoe " departed Pearl Harbor on 9 August 1942 and reached Alaskan waters on the 15th to begin three years in the frigid northern latitudes of the Pacific . For the remainder of the war , she steamed the resupply circuit between such ports as Kodiak , Dutch Harbor , Adak , Akutan , Cold Bay , and Attu and made periodic voyages south to Seattle and San Francisco to replenish . In May 1943 , she supported the invasion of Attu , but from a safe distance in port at Adak . By the latter part of the summer , the Aleutians had been secured , and her travels among the American bases in the area became routine . On 15 August 1945 , when hostilities in the Pacific ceased , " Tippecanoe " was en route from Seattle to Dutch Harbor . After visits to Adak and Attu during the latter half of the month , the oiler headed for Japan for several months of duty supporting the occupation forces . She arrived at Ominato on 8 September and , after a month there , moved on to Tokyo . During her two remaining months in Japan , she visited Aomori , Yokohama , and Yokosuka . She departed Yokosuka on 28 November to return to the United States and entered San Francisco on 18 December . On 6 March 1946 , " Tippecanoe " was decommissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard . Her disposal was authorized on 19 March , and her name was struck from the Navy List on 12 April . She was transferred to the Maritime Commission on 7 October and was sold to the National Metal & Steel Co . on 20 November 1946 .