USS Pleiades ( AK - 46 ) USS " Pleiades " ( AK - 46 ) was commissioned by the U . S . Navy for service in World War II . She was responsible for delivering military personnel and equipment to ships and stations in the war zone . Built in 1939 as for the Romanian State Maritime Service by Cantieri Navali Riuniti , Palermo , Italy , was taken over while lying idle at New York , 25 June 1941 , by the U . S . Maritime Commission under the authority of Public Law 101 ( 77th Congress ) and Executive Order 8771 ; acquired by the Navy on a bareboat charter from WSA , 11 August 1941 ; renamed " Pleiades " ( AK - 46 ) , 3 September 1941 ; and commissioned 25 October 1941 , LCDR Drayton Harrison in command . World War II North Atlantic operations . Following an abbreviated shakedown , " Pleiades " loaded cargo at Quonset Point , Rhode Island , and on 22 November , got underway on her first convoy run through the U - boat infested waters of the North Atlantic Ocean to Iceland . Returning to New York the day after the United States entered World War II , " Pleiades " completed ten more convoy runs , six to Iceland and four to the United Kingdom by July 1943 . A very dangerous convoy run . Of those , convoys ON 67 in February and SC 107 , which departed New York 24 October 1942 , were the most hazardous . On 1 November , with five ships in each column , 9 column convoy SC 107 took departure from Canada for Iceland , and the United Kingdom . Shortly before 2000 , a wolfpack closed on the convoy , and , for almost 70 hours , struck at the columns , repeatedly scoring hits . At 1837 , 4 November , they sank their last ship and departed , having sunk 15 , and damaged one other . Converted to general stores . Steaming south , 25 July 1943 , " Pleiades " spent August , September , and October on a Brazilian run , then , in mid - November returned to the North Atlantic to ply those waters again until June 1944 . Converted to a general stores issue vessel , she joined Service Force , Atlantic , 3 July , and three weeks later departed Lynnhaven Roads for the Mediterranean . Supporting the invasion of Southern France . She anchored at Naples , Italy , 17 August ; discharged cargo there until 2 September ; then , acting as flagship for a convoy of LCIs , got underway for southern France . Encountering a mistral en route , she delivered her charges to Saint - Tropez , 4 September . From the 5th through the 23rd , she distributed supplies to U . S . 8th Fleet units at St . Tropez , San Raphael , and Marseilles , then sailed to Bizerte , whence she returned to the United States , mooring at Boston , Massachusetts , 29 October . Tropical South Atlantic runs . Following alterations , " Pleiades " steamed to Bayonne , New Jersey , to load cargo for Brazil . She completed that Belém - Recife - Bahia run at New York , 12 January 1945 ; underwent repairs ; and then commenced a series of sugar runs to the Caribbean which continued until after the end of World War II . On 4 November , she arrived at New York to complete her last cargo run as a U . S . Navy ship . Post - war decommissioning . Decommissioned 21 November , she was returned , the same day , to the Maritime Commission , under which she resumed merchant service with the name . Military awards and honors . " Pleiades " ( AK - 46 ) earned two battle star s for World War II service . Her crew members were eligible for the following medals :