USS Tularosa
USS Tularosa was a Mettawee-class gasoline tanker acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of transporting gasoline to warships in the fleet, and to remote Navy stations.
Tularosa was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract on 31 October 1944 at Bayonne, New Jersey, by the East Coast Shipyards, Inc.; launched on 17 December 1944; sponsored by Miss Patricia Hefferman; acquired by the Navy on 4 January 1945; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 10 January 1945.
World War II service
On 4 February 1945, the new gasoline tanker steamed southward for shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay. On 9 March, she and Dour got underway for Bermuda. On the 12th, she moored at St. George's Island to discharge barrels of kerosene which she had taken on at Norfolk, Virginia.Pacific Ocean operations
A few days later, she called at Aruba to take on gasoline and diesel oil; then set her course, via the Panama Canal, for the west coast; and arrived at San Diego, California, on 8 April. She departed the U.S. West Coast on the 12th and reached Pearl Harbor on the 23d.In May, she made a voyage to Canton Island Harbor, in the Phoenix Islands; and then returned to Pearl Harbor on the 21st, Throughout her time in the Pacific, Tularosa operated out of Oahu, carrying aviation fuel and gasoline to Johnston Island and Midway Island. She continued her duties into 1946, departed Pearl Harbor on 30 January, and returned to the west coast on 12 February.