USS Kankakee (AO-39) was a Kennebec-class fleet oiler of the United States Navy. The ship was built as SS Colina byBethlehem Steel Co., Sparrows Point, Maryland (hull number 4358 and Maritime Commission number 146), launched on 24 January 1942, sponsored by Mrs. D. A. Little, acquired for the Navy on 31 March through the Maritime Commission from her owner, Socony-Vacuum Oil Company (later renamed Mobil Oil), New York City, and commissioned as Kankakee at Norfolk, Virginia, on 4 May, Captain W. H. Mayes in command.
Service history
1942–1943
Departing Norfolk on 1 June 1942, Kankakee transported a cargo of fuel oil from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Coco Solo,Panama Canal Zone, and arrived San Francisco via San Pedro on 14 July for additional conversion.
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She cleared the Golden Gate on 27 August and steamed to Nouméa, New Caledonia, arriving on 18 September to commence duty as a unit of ServRon 8. Sailing between New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, the Fijis, and Pearl Harbor, she spent the next seven months refueling combat ships and convoys engaged in the bitter, protracted struggle for the Solomon Islands. She departed Nouméa on 18 April 1943 and arrived San Pedro on 3 May for a six-week overhaul before returning to the South Pacific on 19 June.
Reaching Nouméa on 8 July, she resumed refueling, cargo, and passenger runs, serving the 3rd Fleet between the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands. Sailing to the south of Guadalcanal on 1 November, she refueled Admiral Frederick C. Sherman's fast carriers, Saratoga (CV-3) and Princeton (CVL-23), on 3 to 4 November in preparation for a surprise air strike against Japanese shipping at Rabaul on the 5th.
1944
From 21 February to 2 March 1944 she replenished destroyers to the east of New Ireland as they battered the Bismarck Barrier with bombardments on Kavieng and Rabaul. Captain Arleigh Burke, Commander of the "Little Beavers" (DesRon 23) and later Chief of Naval Operations, commended Kankakee as the "most efficient tanker we have met." And while on a similar mission on 22 to 30 March, she refueled carriers of a task force as they sailed to launch destructive air strikes on 30 March to 1 April against the enemy-held Palau, Yap, and Woleai Islands in the Western Carolines. Loaded with fuel oil and gasoline, she next refueled escort ships engaged in the Saipan landings. On 14 July she returned to San Diego for a short upkeep.
Kankakee departed the West Coast on 24 August; she arrived at Kossol Roads, Palaus, on 10 October to serve as station tanker until 1 November when she shifted her base to Ulithi, Western Carolines. From there she provided logistics support to ships that were hitting the enemy from the Philippines to the "home islands".
1945
Throughout November and December 1944 and January 1945 she replenished Task Force 38. This Task Force struck the enemy devastating blows at Luzon, Formosa, the China Coast, and French Indochina. Departing Ulithi on 8 February, she steamed northward and remained at sea until 3 March to refuel carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers of the 5th Fleet engaged in the savage struggle for Iwo Jima and the supporting carrier air strikes on Tokyo. After renewing her cargo at Ulithi, she sailed on 13 March to supply carriers, including Franklin (CV-13) and Langley (CVL-27) as they were conducting air strikes on Kyūshū, the Inland Sea, and the Ryukyus. On 1 April, as landings on Okinawa progressed, Kankakee departed Southern Anchorage, Ulithi, for logistic support duty off Okinawa. Under the operational command of Rear Admiral Donald B. Beary, Commander ServRon 6, she furnished fuel and supplies at sea to ships of the 5th Fleet. During much of the next three months she helped maintain their striking power and mobility in the last great amphibious campaign of the war. Completing her Ryukyus duty on 14 June, she resumed support on 3 July for the 3rd Fleet as Task Force 38 conducted devastating aerial and naval bombardments on the "home islands" from Hokkaidō to the Inland Sea. Kankakee steamed southeast of Japan as offensive operations ceased on 15 August; but she maintained logistic support until her return to Ulithi on 5 September. After putting into Tokyo Bay on 20 September, she proceeded to the United States, arriving San Pedro on 18 November for overhaul.
