USS Tallulah (AO-50), originally named the SS Valley Forge, was a Type T2-SE-A1 Suamico-class fleet oiler of the United States Navy.

A week later, she departed New York in company with 32 merchant ships escorted by British destroyer HMS Havelock and four corvettes and proceeded via Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and Aruba, toward Panama.

Tallulah remained in Nouméa from 12 to 19 December; then made her way to the west coast, arriving at San Francisco on 4 January 1943.

Late that afternoon, Japanese torpedo bombers dove on the convoy in singles and pairs; but the Allied ships maneuvered radically and put up a hail of anti-aircraft fire.

She sailed from the west coast carrying oil, stores, and planes to various bases in the South Pacific.

Following four more days fueling ships at Funafuti, she stood out of port to replenish the tanks of warships supporting the invasion of the Gilbert Islands during the first week in December.

During the next five months, Tallulah shuttled oil and cargo from Pearl Harbor to the forward anchorage established at newly won Majuro Atoll.

Steaming via Pearl Harbor, Tallulah reached Terminal Island, California, on 11 August and began overhaul.

Tallulah shifted berths to avoid flame and flying debris while members of her crew assisted the survivors of the sunken ship.

Ten days later, she exited the lagoon again and resumed fueling the fleet, still operating off Iwo Jima and preparing to soften Okinawa.

She made one more round-trip voyage to Ulithi and back, between 17 August and 1 September; then sailed north on the 20th to fuel ships operating in the vicinity of Jinsen, Korea.

During the ensuing three months, she visited China — at Taku Bar, the Gulf of Pohai, and Tsingtao — as well as Nagoya, Kure, Yokohama, and Yokosuka in Japan.

Crewed by civilians, she plied the oceans of the world, visited most major ports, and kept the Navy supplied with oil and other important liquid cargoes, seeing service in the Korean War in early 1952.