USS Mattaponi ( AO - 41 ) USS " Mattaponi " ( AO - 41 ) was a which served in the United States Navy during World War II , periodically during the 1950s , and in the Vietnam War . She was the only U . S . Navy ship named for the Mattaponi River in eastern Virginia . Service history . 1942 – 1945 . " Mattaponi " was laid down as SS " Kalkay " , a type T2 - A tanker . The ship was built at Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co . in Chester , Pennsylvania as hull number 222 and USMC number 149 , and launched on 17 January 1942 . The ship was commissioned into the U . S . Navy on 11 May 1942 . " Mattaponi " spent almost all of World War II in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theaters . From her commissioning until December 1942 she carried fuel from the Texas oil ports to the U . S . Navy ' s fuel storage depots at Craney Island , Yorktown , Newport , Boston , and Casco Bay . On 12 December she departed New York Harbor for the first of 21 wartime transatlantic convoys . Often she carried , in addition to her cargo fuels , landing craft , aircraft , provisions , mail , medical supplies , and passengers . Her medical complement as well as her engineers and mechanics were often called on , at sea and in port , to remedy malfunctions , human and mechanical , on board other ships . The tanker ' s convoy voyages during this period took her to Casablanca , Oran , Bizerte , Rosneath , Derry , Fayal , and Port Royal in addition to frequent runs to the Texas and Caribbean oil centers . After 10 December 1944 , " Mattaponi " s transatlantic crossings became less frequent due to a change in logistic tactics . Navy tankers no longer accompanied convoys , but were assigned , instead , to stand by at terminal points on either side of the Atlantic , rendezvousing and servicing convoy escorts as they passed the stations . " Mattaponi " was assigned , from 10 December 1944 to 28 May 1945 , to a group which rotated between Bermuda and the Azores as terminus tankers . On 11 July 1945 , following a month ' s availability at Portsmouth , Virginia , " Mattaponi " departed Norfolk for duty with the 3rd Fleet in the Pacific . She arrived at Pearl Harbor the day after the cessation of hostilities and continued on to the Carolines , anchoring in Ulithi Harbor on 28 August . 1945 – 1950 . With the exception of two voyages to Pearl Harbor in December 1945 and January 1946 , the tanker serviced the fleet in the western Pacific until January 1947 . During this period she made three runs to the Persian Gulf for the products with which to fuel the ships at Yokosuka , Sasebo , Jinsen , Fusan , Taku , Tsingtao , and Manila . On 20 January 1947 she arrived San Francisco for overhaul . She departed on 20 April for further extended periods of duty on the high seas . During the next two and a half years , interrupted by overhaul August to December 1948 , " Mattaponi " completed two round - the - world voyages in addition to making numerous runs to the Persian Gulf and one to Aruba from such ports as Yokosuka , Sasebo , Buckner Bay , Manila , Piraeus , Taranto , and Norfolk . On 21 October 1949 , she entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard for inactivation . In December she proceeded to San Diego , was immediately placed in the Reserve Fleet , and later decommissioned on 17 April 1950 . 1950 – 1954 . Soon recommissioned , after the outbreak of the Korean War , on 28 December 1950 , " Mattaponi " served for almost four years as a Military Sea Transport Service vessel with the designation T ‑ AO ‑ 41 . Until June 1951 she operated primarily along the U . S . west coast , making one voyage to Japan in March . From June through September she carried fuel from Aruba to east coast ports , making one run to Iceland before returning to the west coast . With one interruption , a cruise to the Marshalls , August to September 1953 , she continued to operate off the west coast with periodic voyages to the Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands until decommissioning again 12 October 1954 . She then reentered the Reserve Fleet at San Diego . 1956 – 1957 . On 12 December 1956 " Mattaponi " was recommissioned . In service for the next 11 months , she made one round - the - world voyage , several runs to Bahrain from Norfolk , Sasebo , Japan , and Pozzuoli , Italy , and one between Aruba and Norfolk as well as a cruise to Cherbourg , France , and Invergordon , Scotland , before mooring at New Orleans on 10 November 1957 . There , the next day , she decommissioned . On 1 February 1959 her name was stricken from the Navy List . 1961 – 1970 . " Mattaponi " was reinstated on the Navy List on 1 September 1961 , and recommissioned for a third time at Mobile , Alabama on 30 November 1962 . Home - ported at San Francisco , she spent all of 1962 on the west coast . On 2 July 1963 , She departed for the western Pacific where she serviced ships of the 7th Fleet in the Japanese , Philippine , and East and South China Seas . Returning to the west coast on 14 January 1964 , she spent the remainder of that year in operations in the eastern Pacific , including joint exercises involving United States and Canadian naval units . From January to July 1965 , " Mattaponi " again deployed for duty with the 7th Fleet . In 1966 she operated off the west coast until 28 March , when she commenced overhaul in Richmond , California . Her overhaul completed on 27 July , " Mattaponi " resumed underway operations along the west coast . On 3 September the veteran oiler left San Francisco for the West Pacific , providing services for the 7th Fleet until the end of March 1967 . She arrived back at San Francisco on 17 April . " Mattaponi " operated locally out of her home port through most of the summer , then departed again 8 September for duty off Vietnam , returning on 17 April 1968 . After a leave and upkeep period , followed by local operations , she left once more for the Far East in early October , and was providing services to the fleet there into 1969 and 1970 . Decommissioning and sale . " Mattaponi " was decommissioned in 1970 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in October of the same year . She was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 22 January 1971 , for disposal , and sold for scrapping , on 15 December 1973 , to Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation , New York City , for $ 50 , 184 . 50 and subsequently scrapped . Mattaponi ' s bell is currently on loan from the Naval Historical Center to the Fluer de Lis Chapel in Upland , California . The chapel , used for wedding ceremonies , rings the ships bell after each ceremony .