USS Mattole ( AO - 17 ) USS " Mattole " ( AO ‑ 17 ) was a " Kaweah " - class fleet replenishment oiler in the United States Navy . " Mattole " was built by William Cramp & Sons , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , under USSB contract , was laid down 2 June 1919 ; launched 16 March 1920 ; acquired by the Navy 6 March 1922 and laid up at Philadelphia ; commissioned 16 June 1940 , Comdr . J . D . Wilson in command . Commissioned as hostilities in Europe and Asia began to draw the United States ever closer to the conflict , " Mattole " was assigned to duties in the North Atlantic . Following America ’ s entry into the war , the oiler plied between New York , Boston , NS Argentia , and Reykjavík , supplying fuel to both shore stations and ships . On 13 November 1942 , she departed New York in convoy to Casablanca , arriving 1 December . She remained off the coast of north Africa until the 22d , fueling ships operating in support of the Allied offensives against Axis forces and their desire for control of the Mediterranean . " Mattole " returned to New York 10 January 1943 , continued to Norfolk and then to Bermuda where she underwent intensive exercises in fueling at sea , antisubmarine , and antiaircraft procedures . With this training behind her , the tanker again joined a slow , and vulnerable , supply convoy en route to Gibraltar . The convoy encountered no difficulties and " Mattole " returned to the United States 16 April . On 16 June , following overhaul at Norfolk , " Mattole " began making runs to the oil centers of Aruba and Curaçao . Arriving in the Netherlands West Indies on the 26th , she carried oil to Guantanamo Bay and underwent fueling exercises before taking up duties as station tanker at Port of Spain , Trinidad , 20 July . She was relieved of this duty 6 September and assigned to the important task of keeping Cuban and east coast depots supplied with petroleum products . With only one interruption , she continued this essential duty sailing to Guantanamo Bay , New York , Portland , Maine , and Argentia , Newfoundland , until mid ‑ 1945 when she extended her operations to include gulf coast ports . The single break in this assignment came in November 1944 when she was ordered to accompany an extremely slow convoy of landing craft and tugs towing Army barges to Cherbourg , France . The convoy departed Charleston , S . C . , 6 November and arrived at Plymouth , England , without incident , 5 December . The return voyage was underway by the 12th . On the 20th an enemy submarine attacked . Two ships were lost and the U ‑ boat , although sighted and pursued , escaped . The remaining ships rescued survivors and the convoy continued on to New York arriving 7 January 1945 . " Mattole " then resumed her coastal and Caribbean tanker operations . During her last month of active participation in the war effort , July 1945 , the oiler carried her cargo between Houston , Galveston , and Cristobal , Canal Zone . On 3 August she departed Galveston for Philadelphia , docking there on the 9th . On 6 September she steamed to Norfolk where she decommissioned 25 October 1945 . Struck from the Naval Register 13 November , she was transferred to the Maritime Commission , 7 June 1946 . She was subsequently sold by that agency and delivered to the buyer , Boston Metals Co . , Baltimore , Md . , 1 July 1947 .