USS Taluga (AO-62) was a Cimarron-class fleet oiler acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served her country primarily in the Pacific Ocean Theatre of Operations, and provided petroleum products where needed to combat ships. For performing this dangerous task in combat areas, she was awarded four battle stars during World War II, four during the Korean War, and six campaign stars during the Vietnam War.
Taluga was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 728) on 23 December 1943 at Sparrows Point, Maryland, by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 10 July 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Harvey Klemmer; delivered to the Navy at Norfolk, Virginia, on 25 August 1944; and commissioned there on that same day.
World War II Pacific Theatre operations
The oiler left Norfolk, Virginia, on 5 October; stopped at Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, from the 9th to the 11th; and transited the Panama Canal on the night of 13 and 14 October. She reached Pearl Harbor on the 26th and, two days later, continued on to the Marshalls. The oiler entered the Eniwetok lagoon on 26 November and exited on the 28th. On 10 December, she reached Ulithi, which served as her base of operations until the end of World War II.
For the next 11 months, Taluga was in and out of Ulithi picking up oil and other supplies there and carrying them to units of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. For the most part, her oil and aviation gasoline went to the ships of the Fast Carrier Task Force.
Supporting Allied landings
During that time, she supported the carrier strikes and landings on Luzon, the Okinawa landings, the strikes on Formosa, and the final 3rd Fleet sweep of the Japanese home islands in the summer of 1945. Between April and July 1945, she spent much of her time in and around the anchorage at Kerama Retto, just west of the southern end of Okinawa. There, on 16 April, she encountered her greatest excitement of the war.
Under attack by kamikaze planes
Shortly after dawn, ten kamikazes attacked her formation. One of them dove at the oiler, strafed her deck, and then made for her superstructure. The attacker careened off the ship's bridge and exploded through her forward well deck into a compartment adjacent to her tanks brimming with 300,000 gallons of aviation fuel. However, only 12 men were injured; and the oiler was soon back in action.
End-of-war activity
Soon after the final 3rd Fleet sweep of Hokkaidō and Kyūshū, Japan capitulated. Taluga, entered Tokyo Bay on 26 August, 11 days following the cessation of hostilities, and took up duty as station oiler until early October. She then voyaged to Ulithi once more to refill her tanks and returned to Japan for duty as station oiler at Yokosuka. On 18 November, she departed that port to support ships engaged in the occupation of China and Korea. She visited Qingdao and Jinsen before returning to Yokosuka, Japan, on 6 December. On 31 January 1946, the oiler put to sea to return to the United States. She arrived in San Pedro, California, on 16 February and commenced a four-month yard period.
East coast operations
Following overhaul, she sailed from San Pedro on 15 June for the Far East. For the next year, Taluga hauled oil from the Persian Gulf ports of Bahrain and Ras Tanura to American bases in Japan and the Philippines. On 13 June 1947, she got underway from Yokosuka, Japan, bound for home by the westward route. During that cruise, the oiler visited Singapore and Bahrain before transiting the Suez Canal and stopping at Tangier. On 10 August, she entered port at Norfolk. Three weeks later, the oiler was back at sea and - after an overnight stop at Key West, Florida - headed for the Mediterranean. She loaded oil at Bahrain from 30 September until 2 October and, following visits to Suez and Tangier, returned to Norfolk on 28 October.
On 4 November, she departed Hampton Roads once more for a cruise to the Middle East. She stopped at Ras Tanura from 30 November to 5 December; then she continued eastward across the Indian Ocean and up through the South China Sea to Yokosuka, Japan, arriving there on the day after Christmas. On the last day of 1947, Taluga departed Yokosuka and set a course across the Pacific to Puget Sound, Washington. She reached her destination on 13 January 1948 and began overhaul at the naval shipyard.