USS Wrangell (AE-12) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1375) as SS Midnight during February 1944 at Wilmington, North Carolina, by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company; launched on 14 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. G. T. Cambell; delivered to the Navy, incomplete, on 28 May 1944; moved to Hampton Roads; converted to an ammunition ship by the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; and commissioned on 10 October 1944 at the Norfolk Navy Yard.

The ammunition ship transited the isthmian waterway on 7 December; and, although initially ordered to proceed directly to the Marshall Islands, was rerouted to Hawaii.

Departing Philippine waters on 25 October, Wrangell steamed via Pearl Harbor, reached the coast of Panama on 21 November, and transited the canal later that day.

At 1014 on 4 October 1953 – while en route from Reykjavík, Iceland, to Bizerte, Tunisia, in company with the oiler Aucilla (AO-56) – the ammunition ship sighted a fishing vessel flying international distress signals.

Wrangell's men found the fishing boat, Jules Verne (registered at Douarnenez, France), to have wreckage strewn about topside and two feet of water in her engine compartment.

At 1403 the next day, 5 October, Jules Verne began to founder, however, and sank eight minutes later; the dog, swimming in the water, was hauled on board Wrangell, whose crew adopted the animal and made him the ship's mascot.

There were notable highlights during those deployments: in the autumn of 1956, during the Suez Crisis, Wrangell supported the units of the 6th Fleet evacuating American nationals from the troubled area.

In between Mediterranean deployments, Wrangell's area of operations ranged from Charleston, South Carolina, to Holy Loch, Scotland; and from the Virginia Capes to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

During her operations, she conducted underway rearming experiments with a number of ships, including the then-new aircraft carrier Forrestal (CV-59) and the guided missile cruiser Boston (CAG-1).

After successive home-port changes over the years – from New York to Naples to Norfolk to Charleston – Wrangell was preparing for her 10th Mediterranean deployment when orders came directing her to sail for the Far East and her first service in the Pacific since World War II.

In addition, besides ammunition, the ship delivered fleet freight, mail, transient personnel, movies, and, on two occasions, fresh water and provisions.

On 21 June, Wrangell arrived back at Charleston, via Singapore; Bombay, India; the Suez Canal; Beirut, Lebanon; and Barcelona, Spain; thus completing a circumnavigation of the globe.

On 4 September 1968, the ship got underway; transited the Panama Canal; spent five days at Pearl Harbor; and, after evading Typhoon Paye off Wake Island, arrived at Subic Bay on 16 October.

Despite the winds and heavy seas of Typhoon Mamie, the ship located the Indian vessel Laxmi Jayanti, helpless due to a steering casualty.

On 3 December, Wrangell reversed course on orders from Commander, Naval Forces, Philippines, and rendezvoused with the freighter SS American Pilot, sending over a corpsman in the ship's motor whaleboat to assist a sailor who had suffered an arm wound that was bleeding profusely.

After her corpsman had stanched the bleeding and given sufficient help to enable the man to be safely transferred to a shore facility for further treatment, Wrangell continued on for Yankee Station.

There, she engaged in nearly continuous rearmings of a host of ships, including the attack carriers, Ranger, Constellation, and the veteran USS Hancock, with Task Force 77.

After a series of routine rearmings near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), rough weather and high seas frustrated several attempts by the destroyer USS George K. MacKenzie to come alongside.

Since the destroyer's magazines were low, the need to replenish her stocks was urgent; so Wrangell and George K. MacKenzie anchored inside the sheltered lee of Cam Ranh Bay to effect the transfer.

While nearby patrol craft periodically dropped antiswimmer charges and kept a lookout for possible Viet Cong interference in the operation, the job was completed in two hours.

As the ship's history for the year stated: "For Wrangell, the Camranh Bay episode was the closest she had ever brought her thousands of tons of ammunition to hostile fire.

During her recently completed deployment, she had supplied ammunition to ships ranging from the battleship New Jersey to the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Ingham, transferring nearly 12,000 tons of that necessary commodity.

After repairs and underway training evolutions during the summer, Wrangell departed Charleston on 6 October, standing down the Cooper River, bound for what proved to be the ship's last Mediterranean deployment.