1900, as the Type T1 tanker Sidney Howard, by California Shipbuilding Corporation, Terminal Island, Los Angeles, California; launched on 26 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. S. Howard; renamed Armadillo and designated IX-111; acquired by the Navy on a bareboat basis, and simultaneously placed in commission at San Pedro, Los Angeles, on 18 November 1943.

[3] Following her commissioning, the vessel began a period of final fitting out and shakedown training off the southern California coast.

On 22 April, she reported to Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, where she served as a station tanker through late August.

Armadillo was decommissioned on 29 May 1946, and, on the same day, was delivered to MARCOM's War Shipping Administration (WSA) at Lee Hall, Virginia, and laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet's James River Group.

[3] Acquired by Hasler & Co., agents, for the Windsor Navigation Co., on 3 February 1948, the ship was delivered to her purchaser at Baltimore, Maryland, on 14 April 1948.