Octorara II IX-139

Octorara II
(IX-139: dp. 11,579 (f.); 1. 407'5"; b. 51'; dr. 25'6"; s. 10 k.; cpl. 88; a. 2 3")

Octorara, a tanker built in 1921 as La Puri~zma by Southern Shipbuilding Co., San Pedro, Calif. was lent to the USSR under Lend Lease early in World War II. Upon return to the U.S. she was acquired by the Navy 11 September 1944; and commissioned the same day at Moore Drydock Co., Oakland, Calif., Lt. Comdr. A. G. Munro, USNR, in command.

Octorara was assigned to Service Squadron 8 Pacific Fleet. Aftcr nece~ary repairs, the tanker loaded a cargo of bunker oil and 100 octane gasoline and on 14 October 1944 departed San Francisco Bay for the Marshall Islands. Arriving Eniwetok, via Pearl Harbor, 6 November, she discharged diesel oil to Beaple and on the 15th got under way with a convoy for the Caroline Islands. Octorara remained at Ulithi for a month (21 Nov.-22 Dee.), dispensing diesel and aviation gasoline to the Fleet, before proceeding to Kossol Roads, Palau Islands, for fueling operations until June 1945.

Octorara departed Kossol Roads 7 June 1945, and on the 10th arrived in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, P.I. She continued fueling operations in the Pacific until after Japan surrendered. Returning to the East Coast early in 1946, thc tanker decommissioned 8 April and was transferred to WSA the same day. She was sold to Pinto Island Metal Co. 28 Februarv 1947 and scrapped.