- USS Raccoon (IX-127)
USS "Raccoon" (IX-127), an "Armadillo"-class tanker designated an
unclassified miscellaneous vessel , was the second ship of theUnited States Navy to be named for theraccoon . She was built as theLiberty ship "J. C. W. Becham" (MCE Hull No.1931 ) by the Maritime Commission and renamed "Raccoon" by the Navy on27 October 1943 . Her keel was laid down on7 November 1943 by theDelta Shipbuilding Company , inNew Orleans, Louisiana . She was launched on23 December 1943 sponsored by Mrs. J. C. W. Becham, accepted from theWar Shipping Administration under bareboat basis on31 January 1944 , and commissioned on1 February 1944 with Lieutenant Michael E. Vallario, USNR, in command.After shakedown off the Gulf Coast, this mobile station tanker loaded a cargo of fuel oil at
Corpus Christi, Texas ; steamed through thePanama Canal ; and joined the Third Fleet atEspiritu Santo on5 April . She took on a deck cargo of lube oil drums which she discharged atPurvis Bay . Returning to Espiritu Santo, she then proceeded toEfate ,New Hebrides , fueling Battleship Division 3 and Destroyer Division 90. Arriving at Purvis Bay20 July , the ship assumed fueling station ship duties and made several side trips to theRussell Islands .On
14 September , "Raccoon" proceeded toSamoa to load fuel oil, returning to Espiritu Santo and Purvis Bay for station duty. With the exception of a short trip to Bougainville, she remained at Purvis Bay until6 February 1945 , when she proceeded to the Russell Islands to fuel a task force ofAttack Transport s (APAs) andAttack Cargo Ship s (AKAs). Departing21 March , "Raccoon" proceeded toIwo Jima to fueldestroyer s anddestroyer escort s on patrol screen. She arrived atSaipan on14 June for harbor fueling duty which lasted through the end of the war and into April1946 . She then sailed from theMariana Islands , transited thePanama Canal , and arrivedNorfolk, Virginia , on3 June . "Raccoon" decommissioned on10 July , was redelivered to WSA the next day, and was stricken from theNaval Vessel Register on31 July 1946 .References
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