USS Armadillo (IX-111), the lead ship of her class of tanker was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the armadillo, an insect-eating mammal which has an armorlike shell encasing its back and head. Her keel was laid down as Sidney Howard (T. Z-ET1-S-C3), under a Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 1900) on 24 September 1943 at Wilmington, California, by the California Shipbuilding Company. She was launched on 26 October 1943 sponsored by Mrs. S. Howard, renamed Armadillo and designated IX-111, acquired by the Navy on a bareboat basis, and simultaneously placed in commission at San Pedro, California, on 18 November 1943, Lieutenant Michael R. Meyer in command.