USS Ponchatoula (AO-148) was one of six Neosho-class fleet oilers built for the United States Navy, in service from 1956 to 1992, and named for the Ponchatoula creek which rises in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, and flows into the Natalbany River, west of Ponchatoula, Louisiana. She was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. Ponchatoula was laid down at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, on 1 March 1954, launched on 9 July 1955, sponsored by Mrs. I. N. Kiland, and commissioned on 12 January 1956 with Capt. William R. Wilson in command.