Klickitat (AOG-64)
1945-1946
A river in the state of Washington.
(AOG-64: displacement 1,988; length 325'2"; beam 48'2"; draft 19'0; speed 10.0 knots; complement 80; armament 1 3-inch, 2 40 millimeter, 8 20 millimeter; class Klickitat; type T1-M-BT1)
Klickitat (AOG-64) was laid down on 16 December 1944 at Jacksonville, Fla., by the St. John’s River Shipbuilding Corp., under a Maritime Commission contract (M.C. Hull 2624); launched on 24 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs. I. B. McDaniel; acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 14 July 1945, Lt. M. J. Seibert, USCG, in command.
Departing Jacksonville on 28 July 1945, Klickitat reached Hampton Roads, Va., on 31 July. After shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay, the gasoline tanker proceeded on 23 August for Rockland, Maine, arriving on the 26th. She returned to Norfolk on 3 September and departed on 23 November with her sister ship Michigamme (AOG-65) for Houston, Texas. Arriving on 2 December, she loaded a cargo of diesel oil, then sailed on 3 December for the East Coast, and arrived at Norfolk on 12 December. Remaining at Norfolk, Klickitat was decommissioned on 23 January 1946 and was returned to the Maritime Commission on 24 January, entering the Reserve Fleet at Lee Hall, Va., at 1:30 p.m., being placed in Unit 4 of the James River berthing area. She was stricken from the Naval Register on 7 February 1946.
Renamed Capitan, she was acquired under a general agency agreement by Manuel Rodriguez Trading Corp. and removed from the Reserve Fleet at noon on 14 June 1948. Her title was then transferred to Manuel Rodriguez Trading Corp., at Savannah, Georgia, at 6:00 p.m. on 20 August 1948, then resold to the Argentine Naval Commission.
Renamed Punta Loyola, she served the Argentine Navy until decommissioned in 1966. She was sold two years later, becoming Alkene, operating as such until wrecked in 1974.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
28 July 2022
