Weiss was named after United States Marine Corps sergeant Carl Walter Weiss, who was killed in action during a battle on 1 November 1942 with Japanese forces near the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal, when he charged an enemy machine gun position and destroyed it with a hand grenade. For "his great personal valor, aggressiveness and fine spirit of self sacrifice," Sergeant Weiss was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously. Weiss was cancelled on 5 June 1944 before completion, and her materials were scrapped.