 Delivered on 27 February 1943, converted to Navy use, and commissioned at Baltimore, Maryland, on 9 April 1943, Capt.Fred A. Hardesty in command.After shakedown operations off the east coast, "Schuylkill" departed Norfolk on 20 May 1943, picked up her first cargo of fuel at Baytown, Texas, and arrived at the Panama Canal on 1 June.