USS Auriga, a 5,006-ton C1-B type cargo ship, was built at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1942 as SS Alcoa Partner and was commissioned in the Navy in April 1943. She was initially used to transport supplies to islands in the central and south Pacific, including Fiji, New Caledonia, Wallis, Funafuti, Tarawa, Eniwetok, and Kwajalein. In mid-1944 she began to be used in support of amphibious landings, and participated in or supported landings at Saipan, Leyte Gulf, Luzon, and Okinawa.

After receiving repairs at San Francisco in May and June 1945, Auriga made a cargo voyage to Espiritu Santo. She then loaded supplies at Guam and proceeded to Yokosuka to support the occupation of Japan. She left Japan in late November with a full load of servicemen and cargo headed home to New York. In January 1946 she was decommissioned at New York and returned to the Maritime Commission. She returned to merchant service as Alcoa Partner, was laid up in the Maritime Commission reserve fleet in 1963, and was scrapped in 1970.