USS Panda (IX-125), an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the panda. Her keel was laid down as Opie Read (MC hull 1929) in 1943 by Delta Shipbuilding Company, in New Orleans, Louisiana (T. Z.ET1.S.C3). She was renamed Panda 27 October 1943 upon charter from the War Shipping Administration, accepted 5 January 1944, and commissioned on 6 January 1944, Lieutenant Commander William A. Porteous, Jr., in command. Panda received one battle star for World War II service.