USS Beagle (IX-112)

USS "Beagle" (IX-112), an "Armadillo"-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the beagle, a breed of small, short-coated hunting hound. Her keel was laid down by California Shipbuilding Corporation, in Wilmington, California, under a Maritime Commission contract. She was launched on 29 October 1943 as "David Rittenhouse" sponsored by Mrs. Victor Dalton, transferred to the Navy 20 November 1943, and commissioned the same day with Lieutenant R. E. Rew, Jr., USNR, in command.

From California, "Beagle" proceeded to the Marshall Islands via Pearl Harbor. She served as a tanker, plying from Eniwetok, Kwajalein, and Majuro, to Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Yokosuka, Japan. On 10 March 1946 she was relieved and departed Eniwetok for the Atlantic. She arrived at the Panama Canal Zone on 16 April and reported to Norfolk, Virginia, on 30 April 1946. She was decommissioned on 13 June 1946 and returned to the Maritime Commission the same day.

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