USS Schuylkill

USS Schuylkill (AO-76), originally named the SS Louisburg, was a Type T2-SE-A1 Suamico-class fleet oiler of the United States Navy.

The ship was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 306) on 24 September 1943 by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. of Chester, Pennsylvania and launched on 16 February 1943.

After shakedown operations off the east coast, Schuylkill departed Norfolk on 20 May 1943, picked up her first cargo of fuel at Baytown, Texas, and arrived at the Panama Canal on 1 June.

Schuylkill departed Aleutian waters on 20 July and, from 1 to 10 September, fueled ships of a task group preparing to attack the Gilbert Islands.

Next, the oiler participated in the conquest of the Marianas, fueling ships fighting for that strategic island group from 15 to 27 June, from 2 to 25 July, and from 3 to 12 August, before turning to the western Carolines.

Schuylkill departed San Pedro on 25 July, picked up cargo oil at Pearl Harbor on 1 August, got underway for the western Carolines on the 3d and arrived at Ulithi on the 15th.

Reacquired by the Navy on 30 January 1948 and assigned to the Military Sea Transport Service on 1 October 1949, the replenisher oiler served in waters ranging from the northern Pacific to the Persian Gulf, and from Baltimore to Bremerhaven.