USS Klickitat

USS Klickitat (AOG-64) on 29 May 1946
History
United States
Name	Klickitat
Namesake	Klickitat River
Ordered	as type (T1-M-BT1) hull, MC hull 2624
Awarded	26 July 1944
Builder	St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company, Jacksonville, Florida[1]
Cost	$1,022,203.48[2]
Yard number	83
Way number	3
Laid down	16 December 1944
Launched	24 March 1945
Sponsored by	Mrs. I. B. McDaniel
Commissioned	14 July 1945
Decommissioned	23 January 1946
Stricken	7 February 1946
Identification	Hull symbol: AOG-64 Call sign: NDCM
Fate	Transferred to the Maritime Commission (MARCOM), 23 January 1946 Laid up in the James River Reserve Fleet, Lee Hall, Virginia, 24 January 1946 Sold for commercial use, 20 August 1948
United States
Name	Captain
Owner	Manuel Rodriguez Trading Corp.
Fate	Wrecked and rebuilt, 1948 Sold to Argentina, 14 June 1949
Notes	Sold to Argentina without cost
Argentina
Name	Punta Loyola
Namesake	Punta Loyola
Acquired	14 June 1949
Stricken	1984
Fate	Sold, 1968 Renamed Alkene, wrecked, 1974
General characteristics [3]
Class and type	Klickitat-class gasoline tanker
Type	Type T1-MT-BT1 tanker
Displacement	1,980 long tons (2,012 t) (light) 5,970 long tons (6,066 t) (full load)
Length	325 ft 2 in (99.11 m)
Beam	48 ft 2 in (14.68 m)
Draft	19 ft (5.8 m)
Installed power	1 × Enterprise DNQ-38 Diesel engine 800 shp (600 kW)
Propulsion	1 × Westinghouse main reduction gears 1 × shaft
Speed	10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Capacity	10,465 bbl (1,663.8 m3) (Diesel) 871,332 US gal (3,298,350 L; 725,536 imp gal) (Gasoline)
Complement	80
Armament	1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber dual-purpose (DP) gun 2 × 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft (AA) gun mounts 3 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannon AA gun mounts

USS Klickitat (AOG-64), was the lead ship of the type T1 Klickitat-class gasoline tanker built for the US Navy during World War II. She was named after the Klickitat River, in Washington.

Klickitat was laid down on 16 December 1944, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 2624, by the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company, Jacksonville, Florida; sponsored by Mrs. I. B. McDaniel; acquired by the US Navy and commissioned 14 July 1945.^[1][2][4]

Departing Jacksonville, 28 July, Klickitat arrived Hampton Roads, Virginia, 31 July. After shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay, the gasoline tanker proceeded on 23 August, for Rockland, Maine, arriving 26 August. She returned to Norfolk, 3 September, and departed 23 November, with her sister ship Michigamme, for Houston, Texas. Arriving 2 December, she loaded a cargo of diesel oil, sailed 3 December, for the East Coast, and arrived Norfolk, 12 December. Remaining at Norfolk, Klickitat decommissioned 23 January 1946, and was returned to the Maritime Commission (MARCOM) 24 January. Her name was struck from the Navy List 7 February 1946.^[4]

Klickitat was laid up in the James River Reserve Fleet, Lee Hall, Virginia, on 24 January 1946. On 20 August 1948, she was sold for commercial use to Manuel Rodriguez Trading Corp., and renamed Captain. Wrecked in 1948, she was rebuilt and sold to the Argentine Navy at no cost and renamed Punta Loyola.^[3][5][4]

• Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages
• ARA Punta Loyola page in "Histarmar" website (in Spanish)
• Photo gallery of USS Klickitat (AOG-64) at NavSource Naval History