USS Corson, a 1,766-ton Barnegat class small seaplane tender, was built at Houghton, Washington, and was commissioned in December 1944. She sailed from San Diego in February 1945 and, after briefly tending seaplanes at Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok, arrived at Ulithi in April. In May she made two trips from Ulithi to the Palaus and participated in a one-day bombardment of Eil Malk island. Departing Ulithi in late June, she served at Eniwetok in July and early August and at Okinawa in August and September. Corson moved to Nagasaki, Japan, in mid-September and tended seaplanes there, at Sasebo, and in Hiro Wan in support of occupation forces. She departed Japan in January 1946 and arrived at Alameda, California, in February for inactivation. Corson was decommissioned in June 1946.

Corson was recommissioned in early 1951 and made four deployments to the western Pacific during the next four years. During her final deployment, in 1955, she performed a wide range of duties including serving as station tender at Hong Kong, laying a seadrome in the Pescadores Islands, and providing advance base support at Keelung, Taiwan. Corson was decommissioned in March 1956 and was expended as a target in 1966.