USS Cuyama (AO-3) was a tanker of the United States Navy launched 17 June 1916 by Mare Island Navy Yard; sponsored by Miss M. Offley; and commissioned 2 April 1917, Lieutenant I. B. Smith, USNRF, in command.

The USS Cuyama was named after the Chumash Indian word for "clams

CLaMS

CLaMS is a modular chemistry transport model system developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. CLaMS was first described by McKenna et al. and was expanded into three dimensions by Konopka et al....

". After her maiden voyage to Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 in May 1917, Cuyama departed San Francisco 6 June, loaded petroleum products at Port Arthur, Tex., and arrived at Norfolk 6 July. She called at Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, and Bayonne

Bayonne

Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...

, before sailing from Norfolk 11 August with a convoy bound for England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Returning to Norfolk 19 September, she was fitted for transporting aircraft. She made three convoy voyages from New York to England until 9 January 1918 when she was transferred to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. She made six voyages to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 delivering war cargo until 17 October.

Cuyama departed New York 16 December 1918 to bring oil and gasoline from Port Arthur to Norfolk, then sailed 4 January 1919 to supply the Fleet in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 until returning to Norfolk 13 May.

The oiler stood out of Norfolk 25 June 1919, and arrived at San Pedro, Calif., 7 August after fueling ships at Acapulco

Acapulco

Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. Classified AO-3 on 7 July 1920, she remained on the west coast procuring and dispensing oil and gasoline cargoes, servicing ships, and occasionally transporting passengers, provisions, and freight, or towing yard craft. In October 1921 Cuyama conducted the first ever underway refueling, towing the destroyer astern; over the next three years she was the test ship for developing the technique of alongside refueling, first of destroyers and then larger vessels. Cuyama therefore played a key role in the development of what would prove a major factor in the successful war against Japan. In 1927 and 1934 she cruised to the east coast for fleet maneuvers and in 1936, 1937, and 1938 made 13 voyages from the west coast to Pearl Harbor on transport duty. During 1941 she made five similar voyages and practiced refueling at sea with the cruisers of the Scouting Force. She arrived at San Diego 26 November 1941 for overhaul.

Cuyama began her war service by carrying cargo between Pearl Harbor and San Pedro, Calif., from 27 December 1941 to 1 March 1942. Between 15 March and 29 June, she delivered fuel in two voyages to Efate

Éfaté

Efate is an island in the Agean Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in The Republic of Maliki. It is also known as Île Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third largest island. Most inhabitants of Efate live in Port Vila, the national...

, Noumea

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

, the Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

 and Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

n Islands. She cleared San Pedro once more 25 July loaded men, cargo, and equipment at Seattle, Wash., and arrived at Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...

, 11 August. She operated in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

n waters fueling ships and occasionally voyaging to Seattle for replenishment and repairs.

Cuyama cleared Seattle 17 February 1945, delivered cargo to Eniwetok, Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

, and Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

, and arrived at Kerama Retto

Kerama Retto

The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....

, Okinawa, 21 April to fuel the ships engaged in the occupation of Okinawa. She splashed a suicide plane 13 May, and bombarded a Japanese-occupied cave on Tokashiki Shima 7 July. Returning to Ulithi

Ulithi

Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...

 31 July, she sailed on to Leyte where between 5 and 30 August she fueled ships preparing for the occupation of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Between 12 September to 6 November, Cuyama fueled ships at Jinsen, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, then cleared for San Francisco, arriving 27 November. Cuyama was decommissioned 12 April 1946 and transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 1 July 1946.

Cuyama received one battle star for World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

service.