 The "Neosho", (the third US Navy ship to bear the name), with a cargo capacity of , immediately took up her duties of delivering oil, the life blood of the warship, when and where it was needed.Attached to Service Squadron 8 (ServRon 8), she conducted shuttle runs along the West Coast and to Hawaii until 3 December when she sailed for Samoa.From Samoa she continued on to Suva, thence to Espiritu Santo where she served as station tanker, occasionally deploying for fueling at sea operations, until 26 March 1943.