Chehalis AOG-48

Chehalis

A river in Washington State.

(AOG-48: dp. 1,860; 1. 310'9"; b. 48'6"; dr. 16'8"; s. 14
k.; cpl. 131; a. 4 3"; cl. Patapeco)

Chehalis (AOG-48) was launched 15 April 1944 by Cargill, Inc., Savage, Minn.; sponsored by Mrs. J. H. MacMillan, Sr., and commissioned 6 December 1944, Lieutenant E. G. Rifenburg, USNR, in command.

Chehalis cleared Galveston 6 January 1946 to call at San Diego en route Pearl Harbor, which she reached 6 February. Until 14 April, she carried out fueling operations in the Hawaiian Islands and at Canton Island of the Phoenix group, aiding the many ships which received their training in these areas. Sailing west, she put in to Kossol Roads before arriving in San Pedro Bay, P.I., 6 May with a cargo of aviation gasoline and lubricants for forces in the Philippines. For the next 3 months, she fueled motor torpedo boats and Army crash boats operating along the Leyte coast, and from 6 August to 23 November provided similar service to motor torpedo boats at Okinawa.

After overhaul at Puget Sound, Chehalis returned to the Hawaiian Islands 23 March 1946, and for the next 31/2 years carried fuel among the Hawaiian group, and to the Pacific islands to the westward, calling at Johnston, Palmyra, Samoa, Canton, Kwajalein, Midway,

Saipan, Truk, Manus, Iwo Jima, and Eniwetok. On 7 October 1949, as she lay at Tutuila, American Samoa, one of her gasoline tanks exploded, killing 6 of her crew. The tanker burst into flames, capsized, and sank. She was stricken 27 October 1949, and her salvaged hulk was later sold to the government of American Samoa.