hull 148 on 12 June 1941 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. of Chester, Pennsylvania; launched on 11 October 1941; sponsored by Miss Barbara Vickery of Washington, D.C.; acquired by the Navy on 20 July 1941; and commissioned as Neches on 16 September 1942.

She shifted operations to Havannah Harbor, Efate Island, New Hebrides on 22 January 1943, and then steamed for San Pedro, California on 6 March, arriving there the 21st.

The next week she was back at San Pedro and, following a ten-day availability there she got underway with Pennsylvania (BB-38), Nassau (CVE-16), and six screening destroyers en route to Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

The oiler operated in Alaskan waters until late December, when she returned to San Pedro to take on fuel for delivery to Pearl Harbor.

After a four-day call at Pearl Harbor she steamed to Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, where she provided fueling services for the next three months.

On 15 November 1944, she left Ulithi for Leyte Gulf, Luzon, and eventually, the South China Seas, passing between islands that were still held by the Japanese.

[1] By mid-January 1945 Neches was en route to again to Leyte Gulf and the South China Sea, where she fueled ships into February.

During the post-war period she served as a point-to-point tanker, calling at Hawaii, the Philippine Islands, Japan, Southeast Asia, Arabia, Alaska, and the Canal Zone.

After extensive alterations to electronic and dock equipment, including the addition of five rigs for underway replenishment, Neches recommissioned on 24 November 1961 at the Naval Supply Depot, Seattle.

The oiler commenced regular overhaul 6 May 1963, and through 1967 she deployed annually to WESTPAC and maintained herself in a state of readiness during training, upkeep, and leave periods in home waters.

Neches’ Yankee Station and Market Time operations had been punctuated by calls at Subic Bay, Sasebo, Kaohsiung, and Hong Kong.

Off the coast of Vietnam she conducted a number of underway replenishments with ships of the U.S. and Australian navies, including the USS St. Paul (CA-73).