sentences:  "Oahu" was laid down 14 August 1943, as the liberty ship SS "Caleb C. Wheeler", under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 1782, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Inc., in Baltimore, Maryland; launched 9 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. O. F. Hurt; acquired by the Navy from MARCOM 15 September 1943; converted by the Maryland Drydock Company, Baltimore, Maryland; and commissioned 4 April 1944, Commander Clyde Lovelace in command.Following a Chesapeake Bay shakedown, the repair ship "Oahu" departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, 16 May 1944, steaming south and then west.Transiting the Panama Canal, she headed out into the Pacific.