USS Giraffe

USS Giraffe (IX-118), an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the giraffe, a large ruminant mammal of Africa, having a very long neck that makes it the tallest of quadrupeds. Her keel was laid down as Sanford B. Dole by the California Shipbuilding Corporation, in Wilmington, California. She was launched on 11 November 1943 sponsored by Miss Mary F. Leddy and commissioned on 12 December 1943 with Lieutenant Commander Frederick F. Daly, USNR, commanding.

History
United States
Name	Sanford B. Dole Giraffe
Namesake	Sanford B. Dole The giraffe
Launched	11 November 1943
Commissioned	12 December 1943
Decommissioned	17 June 1946
Stricken	3 July 1946
Fate	Sold
General characteristics
Displacement	14,245 tons
Length	441 ft 6 in (134.57 m)
Beam	56 ft 11 in (17.35 m)
Draught	28 ft 4 in (8.64 m)
Speed	11 knots
Complement	108 officers and men
Armament	one five-inch gun

Following shakedown, Giraffe put in at Funafuti, Ellice Islands, on 10 February 1944 and subsequently refueled warships at Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam, Ulithi, and Palau before reaching Okinawa on 21 July 1945. She entered Sasebo, Japan, on 20 November at war's end and served the occupation fleet until departing Yokosuka on 21 February 1946 for Pearl Harbor and Norfolk, Virginia. Giraffe reached Norfolk 3 May and decommissioned there 17 June 1946. Returned to the War Department that date, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 3 July 1946. She was subsequently sold to Metro Petroleum Shipping Company, Inc.

Giraffe was awarded two battle stars for World War II service.