She was constructed for the United States Navy during World War II and her assignment was to provide liquids, such as fuel or water, to ships in the forward battle areas.

For about a month, she operated out of Norfolk in the lower Chesapeake Bay testing fueling at sea gear and techniques.

On 26 April, Aucilla departed Norfolk in company with the destroyer Belknap and, five days later, arrived in Baytown, Texas.

On 22 August, Aucilla put to sea in company with the destroyer J. Fred Talbott bound for Baytown, Texas.

When the 3rd Fleet entered the South China Sea in mid-January, Aucilla continued her fueling rendezvous with its warships.

The oiler rounded out her wartime service supporting the 3rd Fleet on its final series of raids on the Japanese home islands between 11 July and 15 August.

The western Pacific cruise in the summer and fall of 1948 ended with Aucilla steaming through the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean before she crossed the Atlantic to join the fleet stationed on the eastern seaboard of the United States.

down through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and up into the Persian Gulf to Ras Tanura where she loaded bunker oil.

Returning to Norfolk via the Panama Canal, completing her round the world voyage and assumed her duties a fleet tanker.

June and July 1953 brought a midshipman cruise which took her to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Barbados in the British West Indies.

May brought rough weather fueling tests in the North Atlantic followed by a two-month overhaul at a civilian shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland.

In August, Aucilla departed Baltimore and steamed down Chesapeake Bay to rejoin the active units of the Atlantic Fleet.

Late that month, the oiler put to sea for Gonaïves, Haiti, to provide support for some unspecified tests conducted by the Operational Development Force for the Bureau of Ordnance.

When the ship returned to the United States early in December, she entered the Bethlehem Shipyard at Hoboken, New Jersey, for a three-month modification and repair period.

The ship completed overhaul and set sail from Boston on 18 November, bound for refresher training in the Guantánamo Bay operating area.

That seven-month deployment followed the pattern of previous ones, mixing port visits with logistics missions in support of 6th Fleet combat units.

The oiler returned to Norfolk on 31 August and, after the usual leave and upkeep period, resumed normal east coast-West Indies operations.

On 20 November, she entered the yard at the Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Aucilla completed her overhaul on 20 February 1962 and then set sail on 1 March for five weeks of refresher training in the West Indies.

Upon completion of refresher training, the oiler joined an underway replenishment group to support the amphibious Exercise "Phiblex 1-62", also conducted in the West Indies.

Following post-deployment standdown, the oiler got underway on 6 August to participate in NATO Exercise "Riptide IV" conducted in the eastern Atlantic.

She completed repairs and modifications late in June and put to sea on 29 March for a month of refresher training in the Guantánamo Bay operating area.

At the conclusion of refresher training, Aucilla voyaged north to New York where her crew members visited the World's Fair.

She arrived in Cartagena, Spain, on 15 March and, for the next five months, provided logistics support for United States naval forces in the Mediterranean.

She put to sea again on 18 October to serve as a recovery ship for a United States Air Force Titan III-C heat shield qualification test.

She and her colleagues moved quickly to the eastern Mediterranean early in June, out the rapidity with which the Arab forces collapsed allowed them to return to a more normal routine at mid-month.

Soon thereafter, she embarked upon a two-month voyage that took her to the Cape of Good Hope where she refueled the Vietnam-bound aircraft carrier Intrepid.

In addition, Aucilla made port calls at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, Nassau in the Bahamas, and at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before returning to Norfolk on 10 August.

At that time, the oiler began a tender availability as well as a leave and upkeep period preparatory to overseas movement.

After almost five months fueling the ships of the 6th Fleet and making port visits throughout the Mediterranean, Aucilla departed Rota late in March 1969.

Aucilla was placed out of commission at Norfolk on 18 December 1970 being commanded by the senior ranking official on board at the time MMCM William F. Rember of FMAG (Fleet Maintenance Assistance Group).