My guess is that the correct name of the ship in question was SS W.W. MILLS. "SS" means steamship and really is not part of the formal name of the ship. I have found a record for a tanker named W.W. MILLS. She was built by Merchant Shipbuilding, Chester, Pennsylvania, for the Pure Oil Company and was completed in June 1921. Originally the ship was named PUENTE but the name was changed to W.W. Mills in 1922. She was renamed again (probably after being sold to a new shipping company) in 1947 to SAN JUAN I. She was scrapped in 1956. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inactive/merchant.htm and scroll down to hull #381. A few details about the ship are available at http://www.aukevisser.nl/others/id1060.htm.
I do not know after whom the ship was named, although W.W. Mills may have been associated with Pure Oil Company.
You may be able to obtain a photograph of the ship; see http://www.usmm.org/photosource.html for sources of photographs of merchant ships.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
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