USS Oconee, AOG-34
A river in Georgia.
Builder: East Coast Shipyard, Bayonne, New Jersey
Length: 220' 6"
Beam: 37'
Draft: 17'
Displacement: 2,270 (fl)
Commissioned: 12 January 1945
Decommissioned: 28 March 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 Oconee was a Mettawee-Class gasoline tanker. She was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract 18 October 1944 by East Coast Shipyard, Inc., Bayonne, New Jersey; launched 19 November 1944; sponsored by Miss Ethel Borst; acquired by the Navy 23 December 1944; and commissioned 12 January 1945, Lt. Joseph T. Collins, USCG, in command.
Following shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay, Oconee, manned by a Coast Guard crew, sailed to Bermuda and Aruba before transiting the Panama Canal 15 March 1945. Stopping briefly at San Diego, the gasoline tanker proceeded to Pearl Harbor, arriving there 4 May. After a short upkeep period she sailed unescorted to Eniwetok, Marshall Islands, thence on to Ulithi. From mid-June to the end of July she serviced all sizes of ships and craft in the huge anchorage then steamed to Okinawa with her vital cargo. She remained there through the end of the war, serving ships of the mighty U.S. fleet and riding out two treacherous typhoons.
On 12 November Oconee sailed for San Francisco, stopping at Pearl Harbor before arriving on 28 December. She decommissioned there on 28 March 1946, was struck from the Navy List on 1 May, and returned to the Maritime Commission on 1 July. She now flies the Brazilian flag as SS Piratini.
Sources:
Cutter Files, Coast Guard Historian's Office
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.