USS Neosho ( AO - 48 ) USS " Neosho " ( AO – 48 ) was a " Kennebec " - class type T2 fleet oiler of the United States Navy . The ship was laid down on 8 July 1941 , as SS " Catawba " , by the Bethlehem - Sparrows Point Shipyard Inc . , Sparrows Point , Maryland . The purchase came under Maritime Commission contract number 145 for the Socony - Vacuum Oil Company , later renamed Mobil Oil . The ship was launched on 23 December 1941 , sponsored by Mrs . Wilbur F . Burt , renamed " Neosho " on 18 July 1942 , and acquired by the Navy , at San Francisco on 4 August 1942 . She was converted by the Bethlehem Steel Co . , Union Works , San Francisco ; and commissioned on 16 September 1942 , Comdr . Frank L . Worden in command . Service history . 1942 – 1943 . The " Neosho " , ( the third US Navy ship to bear the name ) , with a cargo capacity of , immediately took up her duties of delivering oil , the life blood of the warship , when and where it was needed . Attached to Service Squadron 8 ( ServRon 8 ) , she conducted shuttle runs along the West Coast and to Hawaii until 3 December when she sailed for Samoa . From Samoa she continued on to Suva , thence to Espiritu Santo where she served as station tanker , occasionally deploying for fueling at sea operations , until 26 March 1943 . " Neosho " then returned to San Pedro for repairs . On 28 April the tanker departed California for Dutch Harbor , Alaska . Arriving on 5 May , she sailed again the next day for Adak whence she operated throughout the Aleutian Islands Campaign . After that campaign " Neosho " returned to the South Pacific , departing Pearl Harbor on 10 November with Task Force 50 , to refuel and replenish Task Groups 50 . 2 and 50 . 3 prior to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign . After the bloody , but successful , landings there she joined TU 16 . 10 . 11 to fuel TF 53 as it steamed toward the next objective , the Marshall Islands . 1944 – 1945 . By 6 February 1944 , when " Neosho " entered the lagoon , Majuro had been secured and set up as a base of operations . From there AO – 48 sailed to fuel and provision the ships at sea as strikes were conducted at Hollandia . The Western Carolines fell next and Ulithi became " Neosho " s new base of operations . From there she supported the vessels of TFs 50 and 58 as they helped secure the Marianas and blocked the enemy ' s efforts to open aerial and maritime lanes to carry reinforcements and supplies to the defenders of their constantly receding empire . On 26 August " Neosho " arrived at Manus whence she supplied the fleet as land forces secured the southern Palaus and invaded the Philippines at Leyte . In December 1944 , and January 1945 , she fueled and provisioned the fast carrier forces in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific as those forces hit Japanese installations , and shipping , on , and along , the Asiatic mainland , in the Central and Northern Philippines , on Formosa , and in the Ryukyus to prevent reinforcements from reaching the Japanese fighting on Mindoro and Luzon . " Neosho " continued to support TF 58 through the Iwo Jima campaign after which she returned to San Pedro , arriving on 30 April for overhaul . On 16 May equipped with new surface and air sweep radar and radar controlled guns , she departed Southern California . On 7 June she arrived at Ulithi , whence she shuttled fuel to , and replenished ships at sea off , Okinawa until the end of the war , on 15 August . In October , " Neosho " was ordered back to the United States and on 21 November she reported to Com5 for inactivation . Decommissioning and sale . Decommissioning on 13 December 1945 , she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 3 January 1946 and turned over to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 30 June 1946 . " Neosho " was sold in 1947 to the Socony - Vacuum Oil Company , and renamed SS " Tascalusa " , then to " Ascalusa " in 1963 , the ship was finally scrapped in February 1964 .