USS YP - 278 USS " YP - 278 " was a fishing trawler converted to an ocean - going refrigerator ship for the United States Navy , used to distribute food supplies in the Pacific theater during World War II . Early years . The fishing trawler was built in 1937 for Mr . Frederic Gonsalves , Jr . , by the Campbell Machine Company of San Diego , California , and christened the " Fishing Vessel FV Liberty " . Although during World War II its crew was told it had “ once belonged to Seymour and Alice DuPont , of the Wilmington , Delaware , chemical company , who had named her the " Alcie " in the latter ' s honor and utilized her as a pleasure yacht , ” there is currently no evidence that this was actually the case , as it is known to the U . S . Navy that the ship was originally used as a tuna fishing vessel by Mr . Gonsalves . ( Whether it was common during the war for sailors to be given false and / or inflated information about their craft to boost their morale and sense of self - importance is unknown . Another example of such a rumor might be the ship ' s alleged victimization in the Pearl Harbor attack , for which only hearsay evidence is obtainable . See below . ) Inquiries turned up no connection between Gonsalves and the DuPont family or its chemical company . Acquisition by the U . S . Navy during World War II . The " Liberty " was acquired for wartime use by the United States Navy in 1942 after it reportedly was hit and damaged by enemy fire during the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 . It was subsequently designated Yard Patrol Craft " YP - 278 " . In 1942 , the U . S . armed services , under Rear Admiral C . H . Cobb , responding to widespread complaints about armed service food , recognized the need to provide its servicemen in the southwestern Pacific theater with fresh fruits , vegetables , meats , and condiments . " YP - 278 " was one of only a few private yachts seized by the Navy and converted to ocean - going refrigerator ships in order to enable the War Department to distribute food supplies from Australia and New Zealand rather than from the more distant U . S . mainland . Once they began receiving better food , troops in the region were noted to be in better spirits . Thus " YP - 278 " was one of the war ’ s most popular ships , its commander and crew hailed as lifesavers from one end of the southwest Pacific to the other . U . S . Navy service , 1942 - 46 . From 1942 until 14 August 1945 ( V - J Day ) , after the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Japan , ended the war , the " YP - 278 " , under the command of Capt . Harry J . Conway ( until December 1944 ) and Lt . ( j . g . ) D . Dudley Bloom ( December 1944 - July 1945 ) , ran food supplies to ports along the northern coast of Papua New Guinea ( until February 1945 ) and to those Philippine islands safely under Allied control ( March – August 1945 ) in preparation for the planned Allied invasion of mainland Japan that was to have taken place in September 1945 . While in wartime service , the ship slept sixteen crewmen and two officers . Accommodations for the crew were comparatively luxurious , with two sets of eight beds facing each other , each bed separated from its neighbors by privacy curtains and dedicated reading lights . In such intimate quarters , ship commander Lt . ( j . g . ) Bloom mandated that crew and enlisted men eat the same fare , sitting at the same tables — each rule a Navy innovation in December 1944 . Post - war use as a fishing vessel . After it was decommissioned in 1946 , the ship was returned to Mr . Gonsalves , its owner , until 1948 , when Gonsalves sold her to the Sun Harbor Packing Company , which renamed her the Fishing Vessel FV " Sun Splendor " . In 1965 , another tuna packer , J . B . Vattuone , purchased the " Sun Splendor " , renamed her the Fishing Vessel FV " Invader " , and trawled the oceans with her until she finally had outlived her usefulness . Final disposition . On 9 July 1979 , the former USS " YP - 278 " was sunk by collision at sea at , off the coast of the town of San Julio , Baja California , Mexico .