USS Mizar ( AF - 12 ) USS " Mizar " ( AF - 12 ) was United Fruit Company cargo and passenger liner that served as a United States Navy in World War II . Building and pre - war service . Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation of Quincy , Massachusetts built the ship as SS " Quirigua " for United Fruit Company in 1932 . She was one of six UFC sister ships driven by turbo - electric transmission . The United States Postal Service subsidised the building of the six ships , which served the USPS as mail boats . United Fruit placed " Quirigua " on express liner services between Central America and New York . She normally carried up to 95 passengers to ports in Central America and then would return to the United States with passengers and a cargo of refrigerated bananas and miscellaneous cargo . US Navy service . The US Navy bareboat chartered " Quirigua " through the Maritime Commission on 2 June 1941 under Public Law 101 , 77th Congress and Executive Order 8771 . Brewer ' s Drydock Co . of Staten Island , New York converted the ship for Navy service by adding one single 5 " / 38 caliber gun , four 3 " / 50 caliber gun s for anti - aircraft ( AA ) and anti - submarine use and up to eight Oerlikon 20 mm cannon AA guns . She was renamed " Mizar " and commissioned into the US Navy on 14 June 1941 , commanded by Cmdr E . D . Walbridge . With some modification " Mizar " was able to carry a number of troops as well as her refrigerated stores . She was crewed by Merchant mariner s plus a team of United States Navy Armed Guard sailors to man her guns . The Guards were assisted by the " civilian " crew and all took equal risk of being sunk by submarine or aircraft ; but only the Armed Guard were judged eligible for G . I . Bill benefits . For the early part of 1942 " Mizar " sailed the western Atlantic from a number of US East Coast ports , supplying bases and ships from Iceland to the Virgin Islands . Pacific Theater operations . " Mizar " was then modified with more berthing and more 20 mm AA guns before departing from Norfolk , Virginia , 10 June 1942 with task force TF 39 , carrying some of the 1st US Marine Division who were to take part in the invasion of the Solomon Islands . The force transited the Panama Canal on its month - long voyage to Wellington , New Zealand . Continuing in the southwest Pacific as part of Service Force , US 7th Fleet , she operated initially from Australian ports supporting the successful Australian and American campaign to stop the Japanese on New Guinea . " Mizar " made seven unescorted voyages to San Francisco , California , between 12 October 1942 and 9 February 1945 to get fresh meat , fruit , vegetables , dairy products and eggs to supply advanced bases and combatant ships . When not making these crossings of the Pacific Ocean she normally worked between Brisbane and Milne , New Guinea . After the advance of US and Allied Forces in the Pacific she extended her Australian - based service to the Admiralty Islands in May 1944 and anchored in Leyte Gulf in the Philippines on 18 February 1945 . She continued carrying men and supplies throughout these areas until 4 January 1946 . End - of - war duties . Steaming eastward she reached San Francisco 25 January but soon received orders to go to the US East Coast . Previewing a return to civilian status , " en route " she took bananas for the United Fruit Company from Quepos , Costa Rica to Charleston , South Carolina . " Mizar " , averaged over 5 , 000 miles a month in World War II and received four battle stars for her service . She was decommissioned as a naval vessel at Baltimore , Maryland and returned to the United Fruit Company on 1 April 1946 , and struck from the Navy list of active ships on 17 April . Post - war civilian service . United Fruit restored the ship ' s pre - war name " Quirigua " to her . In 1958 United Fruit transferred " Quirigua " and her sisters " Talamanca " and " Veragua " to its British subsidiary Elders and Fyffes . " Quirigua " was renamed SS " Samala " after an earlier Fyffes ship of the same name . She was scrapped in 1964 . Other converted " reefer " ships . The older passenger and refrigerated ships acquired from United Fruit in 1942 , and were built in 1912 and 1913 and were of a different class from USS " Mizar " . They had been requisitioned in World War I and then returned to United Fruit The converted " reefers " , and were former Danish refrigerated ships requisitioned by the US Maritime Commission in 1942 .