USS Nanticoke, AOG-66
A river rising in south central Delaware named for an Indian tribe on the eastern shore of Maryland; a fishing village in southeastern Maryland, 18 miles west southwest of Salisbury, Md.
Builder: East Coast Shipyard, Bayonne, New Jersey
Length: 220' 6"
Beam: 37'
Draft: 17'
Displacement: 2,270 (fl)
Commissioned: 1 September 1945
Decommissioned: 4 January 1946
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: 720 hp diesel direct drive; single propeller
Top Speed: 10 knots
Complement: 62
Armament: 1 3"/50; 2 x 40mm; 3 x 20mm
History:
The USS Nanticoke was a Klickitat-Class gasoline tanker. She was laid down by St. Johns Shipbuilding Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., under a Maritime Commission contract, on 16 January 1945; launched 7 April 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Gustav W. Nelson; acquired by the Navy 31 August 1945; and commissioned 1 September 1945.
Assigned to the Naval Transportation Service, Nanticoke reported for duty 18 October to the Service Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Arriving at Norfolk, Va. 28 November, she was decommissioned there 4 January 1946 and returned to the Maritime Commission 12 January. Briefly operated by the American Petroleum Transport Corp. as Sugarland, she was acquired later in the year by the Argentine Navy and commissioned as Punta Delgada (B–16). Into 1970, she continued to serve as part of the Argentine Navy.
Sources:
Cutter Files, Coast Guard Historian's Office
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.