Don Esteban, delivered in 1936, was the first and smaller of two Krupp built motor ships of De La Rama Steamship Company, Iloilo, Philippines in inter-island service. The ship was under a bareboat charter by the United States Army as a transport on 30 October 1941 for use in pre positioning U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) fuel and munitions in the southern Philippines, Netherlands East Indies, Singapore and Australia. After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines she evacuated personnel Army headquarters, including General MacArthur, from Manila to Corregidor on Christmas Eve, 1941. The ship was lost off Mindoro on 2 March 1942 while continuing its supply missions.