Allagash was laid down on 26 October 1944 at Sparrows Point, Maryland, by the Bethlehem Steel Co. under a United States Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 2559); launched on 14 April 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Reuben D. Vining; acquired by the Navy on a loan-charter basis on 21 August 1945; and commissioned that same day.

Operating from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the ship spent the next 10 weeks carrying fuel oil between ports on the Gulf Coast of the United States and bases in the West Indies.

During November and December 1962, she earned the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for providing logistics support to the warships enforcing President John F. Kennedy's "quarantine" of Cuba to compel the Soviet Union to remove offensive missiles from that island.

February 1966 brought the usual "Springboard" exercises in the West Indies followed by several weeks of operations out of Newport, Rhode Island.

On 21 June, Allagash departed Newport on a voyage that added a new area of the world to her itinerary, the South Atlantic.

During that cruise, she visited Port Elizabeth in South Africa and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, before returning to Newport on 18 August.

After a period of post-deployment standdown and local operations, the oiler began regular overhaul at Boston on 17 November.

Though she remained Navy property, Allagash was turned over to the custody of the Maritime Administration on 13 November 1971 at its James River, Virginia, facility.

Allagash was authorized the following medals for World War II: This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.