 The fleet ocean tug (ATF-149) was laid down on 17 February 1944 at Charleston, South Carolina, by the Charleston Shipbuilding & Drydock Company; launched on 11 July 1944; sponsored by Mrs. B.H.Wiggs; and commissioned at the Charleston Navy Yard on 8 December 1944.After shakedown in the Norfolk, Virginia area, "Atakapa" undertook her first assignment, a tow from the East Coast to California, departing Philadelphia on 22 January 1945 and reaching San Francisco on 8 March.