Mission Carmel (AO-113)
A merchant name retained. A Franciscan mission in California founded in 1771.
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Mission Carmel was laid down 1 January 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract by Marine Ship Corp., Sausalito, Calif.; launched 28 March 1944; sponsored by Mrs. W. B. Lardner; and delivered 17 May 1944.
Chartered to Pacific Tankers, Inc., for operations, she spent the remainder of the war providing fuel to our forces overseas. Returned to the Maritime Commission on 11 April 1946, she was laid up in the Reserve Fleet at Portland, Oreg.
Acquired by the Navy 21 October 1947, she was designated Mission Carmel (AO‑113) and assigned to the Naval Transportation Service for operations. She continued with the Transportation Service until 1 October 1949, when the Naval Transportation Service and the Mission Carmel were absorbed into the new Military Sea Transportation Service. Redesignated USNS Mission Carmel (T‑AO‑113), she continued to supply our forces overseas with needed fuel products until 25 October 1957, when she was returned to the Maritime Administration, struck from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register and laid up in the Maritime Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Wash.
Her life of service not yet over, she was sold to Litton Industries on 7 November 1957 for conversion into a dry cargo ship. Renamed Houston, into 1969, she continues her life of service under a new flag.
