USS Neptune ( AC - 8 ) The third USS " Neptune " ( AC – 8 ) , a collier of the U . S . Navy , was laid down by the Maryland Steel Co . , Sparrows Point , Md . 23 March 1910 ; launched 21 January 1911 ; and placed in service with a merchant crew at Norfolk Navy Yard 20 September 1911 , Master F . E . Horton , Naval Auxiliary Service , in command . Except for a period out of service at Norfolk Navy Yard 6 May to 5 December 1912 , Neptune operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean from Boston to Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , supporting ships and installations of the Atlantic Fleet into 1913 . Continuing her replenishment operations , she made two coaling voyages to Vera Cruz , Mexico in the spring and summer of 1913 , returned to Norfolk 8 September , decommissioned there 13 October , and was placed in reserve . Neptune commissioned with a naval complement 7 December 1914 and resumed collier service with the Atlantic Fleet . Assigned to the Auxiliary Division , Atlantic Fleet 28 December 1915 , she continued this duty into 1917 , making four voyages to Santo Domingo between June 1916 and February 1917 , carrying Marines , fuel and mail to support Navy and Marine Corps Units protecting American interests in the Dominican Republic during unrest there . When the United States entered World War I , Neptune was at Baltimore , Maryland , loading a general cargo . Departing that port , she put into Norfolk to embark a division of the 1st Aeronautical Detachment and sailed 25 May 1917 for France escorted by destroyers USS " Jarvis " ( DD - 38 ) and USS " Perkins " ( DD – 26 ) . Arriving St . Nazaire on 8 June , the ship offloaded her cargo and disembarked her troops , the first American forces to land in Europe for service against the enemy . Neptune sailed for home 28 June , arriving New York 11 July and again resumed service with the Train , Atlantic Fleet , making one voyage to the Caribbean , 12 July to 27 August , and then operated off the Atlantic Coast , delivering coal to ports in Chesapeake Bay through the end of the war . In 1919 , following three voyages to Guantanamo Bay to supply naval forces at the training base there , the collier departed Norfolk 3 October for the Pacific , calling en route at the Panama Canal Zone , Nicaraugua , and Honduras with Marines and cargo and arriving San Diego on the 20th . She then operated along the West Coast , coaling ships and supplying naval bases between Bremerton , Washington , and San Diego . Returning to the east coast the way she came , the collier arrived Norfolk 20 January 1920 . Neptune made another coaling voyage to the west coast before departing Philadelphia 27 August for an eleven month cruise as part of the Train , Pacific Fleet . She visited Pearl Harbor 8 September to 25 October and cruised to Valparaiso , Chile in January and February 1921 to coal units of the Battle Force engaged in maneuvers off the Chilean coast . The collier returned to Norfolk 11 July and made one more voyage to the West Coast 23 July to 30 December and a coaling cruise to the Caribbean , 25 January to 3 April 1922 before decommissioning at Boston 28 June . Towed by tugs USS " Kalmia " ( AT – 23 ) and USS " Wandank " ( AT – 26 ) , Neptune departed Boston 14 December on her last voyage , arriving Philadelphia three days later . There the ship remained , in reserve , until struck from the Navy List 14 May 1938 and sold for scrapping to Northern Metals Co . , Philadelphia 18 April 1939 .