USS Saturn ( AK - 49 ) USS " Saturn " ( AK - 49 ) was a German cargo ship , built in 1939 as ES " Arauca " . ( " ES " stands for " " Electroschiff " " , meaning . ) In 1941 before the US entered World War II , US authorities seized her and started converting her into a United States Navy stores ship . She was the sole ship of the US Navy ' s " Saturn " class . She was laid up in 1946 and scrapped in 1972 . " Arauca " was built for trade between Germany and the Caribbean , and was named accordingly . Arauca is a border town in eastern Colombia on the frontier with Venezuela . ES " Arauca " . " Arauca " was one of three sister ships that Bremer Vulkan of Bremen - Vegesack , Germany built in 1939 for Hamburg Amerikanische Paketfahrt AG ( HAPAG ) . " Arauca " had two oil - fired high pressure LaMont boiler s and turbo - electric transmission . Her boilers fed two AEG turbo generator s , which fed current to an AEG electric propulsion motor on her single propeller shaft . In August 1939 " Arauca " left Germany on her maiden voyage , carrying general cargo to Mexico . Technological problems dogged the voyage , including the superheater of one of her boilers being burnt out . By the time she had reached port in Vera Cruz and completed discharging her cargo it was the beginning of September and Germany had invaded Poland . German merchant ships now risked being seized or sunk by the Royal Navy , so " Arauca " remained in port for the next two and a half months . In December " Arauca " tried to make for Germany , but off the coast of Florida the light cruiser fired across her bow , so on 19 December she put into Port Everglades . " Orion " had opened fire in US territorial waters , which prompted a US protest to the UK Foreign Office . SS " Sting " . On 6 July 1941 US Presidential Executive Order 101 authorised the United States Maritime Commission to take over foreign ships lying idle in US ports . On 28 July 1941 the Commission took over " Arauca " and contracted her management to the South Atlantic Steamship Company of Savannah , Georgia , which renamed her " Sting " . " Sting " had been idle in port for 19 months so on 19 August was towed from Port Everglades to the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company shipyard at Mobile , Alabama for repairs . There both the Maritime Commission and the South Atlantic SS Co concluded that they did not have engine - room crews skilled enough to run her transmission and high - pressure boilers , so on 14 November they offered her to the US Navy Auxiliary Vessels Board . On 2 December South Atlantic SS Co handed " Sting " back to the Commission , which continued to manage her repairs . USS " Saturn " . On 6 December 1941 , the day before the Attack on Pearl Harbor , the Bureau of Navigation recommended that " Sting " be renamed " Saturn " . Her conversion for Navy use was meant to be completed by late December , but because of her technical complexity this was extended by several months . The opportunity was therefore taken to convert her more fully to Navy specifications , including armament , but the Maritime Commission retained sole charge of her repairs . On 20 April 1942 " Sting " was delivered to the US Navy , commissioned as USS " Saturn " and classified AK - 49 at Mobile , Alabama , commanded by Cmdr . Charles M . Furlow . On 3 May Furlow ' s Navy crew tried to take her to Charleston , South Carolina were stopped by the failure of her condensate pump , steering gear , anchor windlass , make up and main feed pumps , evaporators , fuel oil service pumps and turbine - driven exciter . She eventually left Mobile on 3 June but took until 14 June to reach Charleston , where she needed further repairs . On 11 August 1942 " Saturn " tried to leave Charleston for Norfolk , Virginia but the water circulating pumps for both of her boilers failed . On 19 September she left Boston on the first of three trips supplying American bases in Newfoundland with general cargo . However , in October she was drydocked in Boston for emergency replacement of her stern tube , which took until December . From March 1943 " Saturn " operated between east coast ports , mainly Norfolk , Virginia , and Baltimore , Maryland , and bases in the Caribbean such as Guantanamo and Trinidad . She suffered a loss of boiler feedwater and high oxygen content in her boiler water , so in July 1943 the Bureau of Ships gave the Norfolk Naval Shipyard plans to replace much of her boiler , feed and condensate system . There are no known records of whether this work was done , and nor are there records of any further technical problems . In October and November 1943 " Saturn " made one transatlantic crossing to England , and then resumed supply trips between the USA and Caribbean until September 1944 . In April 1944 Norfolk Navy Yard converted her to a provision store ship and on 10 April she was reclassified AF - 40 . On 2 September 1944 " Saturn " sailed to the Mediterranean carrying supplies for Operation Dragoon , the invasion of southern France . After one trip to Iceland and several voyages to the Caribbean , she made another trip to Oran , French Algeria in March 1945 . " Saturn " resumed her supply voyages up and down the Atlantic Coast until arriving at Norfolk , VA on 1 July 1946 . Military awards and honors . " Saturn " received one battle star for her World War II service . Her crew was eligible for the following medals : Decommissioning , layup and disposal . " Saturn " was decommissioned on 23 July 1946 , redelivered to the War Shipping Administration on 25 July and struck from the Navy list on 15 August . She was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in the James River , Virginia until 12 September 1972 , when she was sold to Isaac Varela of Castellon de la Plana , Spain for scrap .