SS Mission San Gabriel was a Type T2-SE-A2 tanker

Tanker (ship)

A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...

 built for the United States Maritime Commission

United States Maritime Commission

The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and replaced the U.S. Shipping Board which had existed since World War I...

 during 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...

. After the war she was acquired by the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 as USS Mission San Gabriel (AO-124). Later the tanker transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service as USNS Mission San Gabriel (T-AO-124). She was a member of the and was named for the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel

The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish...

, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

Career

Originally laid down as SS Mission San Gabriel on 31 January 1944 as a Maritime Commission type (T2-SE-A2) tanker hull under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1817) by Marine Ship Corporation, Sausalito, California

Sausalito, California

Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...

; launched on 17 April 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Ralph Meyers: and delivered on 27 May 1944.

Chartered to Deconhill Shipping Company, on 28 May 1944, for the remainder of the war, she supplied oil to U.S. and Allied Forces in the Pacific. Returned to the Maritime Commission in early February 1946, she was transferred to the Reserve Fleet and laid up on 28 February 1946. Acquired by the Navy on 14 October 1947, she was transferred to the Naval Transportation Service on the same day for service as Mission San Gabriel (AO‑124) and was operated, under charter, by Pacific Tankers, Inc. Upon the founding of the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) on 1 October 1949, she was absorbed into this service and continued operations until 28 December 1949, when she was returned to the Navy and laid up at San Diego as part of the U.S. Navy Pacific Reserve Fleet.

With the commencement of the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

, the Mission San Gabriel was taken out of mothballs and placed in service with MSTS on 18 July 1950 as USNS Mission San Gabriel (T‑AO‑124). She helped support U.S. forces in Korea until 31 March 1954, when she was taken out of service and mothballed at the San Diego group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

Once again, the faithful tanker’s service was needed and on 8 October 1956, she was taken out of mothballs and placed in service for duty with MSTS. Her service with MSTS was short this time, and on 20 December 1957, she was taken out of service and transferred to the Maritime Administration Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay is a shallow tidal estuary at in northern California, USA. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, forming the entrance to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta...

 for berthing. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 on the same date.

In early 1966 Mission San Gabriel’s call to duty came again. Sold to the Hudson Waterways Corporation on 24 June 1966 she was converted into a container ship

Container ship

Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...

 and train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

 ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 and renamed SS Seatrain Delaware on 21 November 1966. In early 1967, she departed the yards and begun her new life, carrying cargo to the Caribbean Islands

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...

 and occasionally to Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

; she was still performing these duties into the late 1960s. The ship was sold for scrapping in 1975.