The USS Wildcat (AW-2) was a Stag-class distilling ship constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. Originally designated as the Armadillo-class tanker and initially projected as the Liberty ship SS Leon Godchaux, she was reclassified as IX-130 before her construction. Her keel was laid down on 16 November 1943 by the Delta Shipbuilding Company in New Orleans, Louisiana, under a Maritime Commission contract. She was launched on 7 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Leonie Godchaux Mayer, and commissioned on 17 February 1944. Following her commissioning, Wildcat underwent hull alterations at Tampa Shipbuilding and was decommissioned briefly on 10 April 1944 at Key West, Florida, to complete her conversion from tanker to a water distilling ship. She was recommissioned on 15 October 1944 after her conversion was finished. The vessel completed shakedown training in the Gulf of Mexico, then underwent further modifications at Todd Shipbuilding in Galveston, Texas. Departing Galveston on 5 December 1944, Wildcat transited the Panama Canal and proceeded to the western Pacific, arriving at Manus in the Admiralty Islands on 23 January 1945. She then moved to Humboldt Bay, New Guinea. Assigned to Service Squadron 9 of the 7th Fleet, Wildcat supported operations in the Philippines, anchoring in Leyte Gulf and San Pedro Bay, where she supplied fresh potable water to small craft and merchant vessels. She experienced a grounding incident near San Pedro Bay but was refloated and repaired at Manicani Island. She later served as a station ship in Manila. Wildcat witnessed the celebrations of V-J Day in August 1945, and continued her water distilling duties in Philippine waters into late 1945. She returned to the United States in December 1945. Although initially slated for disposal in 1946, she was retained for Operation Crossroads, the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll, supporting Joint Task Force 1. Declared radiologically cleared, she was released from the operation on 11 September 1946. She was decommissioned on 17 January 1947, struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 10 June 1947, and laid up in the Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Washington. The USS Wildcat was eventually scrapped in the mid-1970s, marking her as a notable support vessel during World War II and post-war atomic testing.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.