USS Pleiades (AK-46) was commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering military personnel and equipment to ships and stations in the war zone. Built in 1939 as for the Romanian State Maritime Service by Cantieri Navali Riuniti, Palermo, Italy, was taken over while lying idle at New York, 25 June 1941, by the U.S. Maritime Commission under the authority of Public Law 101 (77th Congress) and Executive Order 8771; acquired by the Navy on a bareboat charter from WSA, 11 August 1941; renamed Pleiades (AK-46), 3 September 1941; and commissioned 25 October 1941, LCDR Drayton Harrison in command.