USS Jupiter, a 5,994-ton Maritime Commission C2-Cargo type freigher, was built in Kearny, New Jersey, as the merchant ship Santa Catalina and acquired by the Navy in June 1941. She served as the U. S. Naval Cargo Ship Jupiter with a civilian crew until August 1942, when she was manned by a navy crew and commissioned as USS Jupiter. Between September 1942 and January 1943 she carried supplies and troops in support of the U. S. offensive in the Solomon Islands. During much of 1943 Jupiter carried supplies and personnel between the West Coast and bases in the the South Pacific. In November 1943 she landed equipment in support of the landing at Tarawa.

In April 1944 Jupiter was assigned to duty with the amphibious forces. She discharged cargo at Saipan during the landings there in June and provided similar support during the landings in the Palau Islands in September, at Leyte in October 1944, and at Iwo Jima in February 1945. She carried supplies to Okinawa in May, and then returned to San Francisco for conversion to an Aviation Supply Ship. She was reclassified AVS-8 on 31 July 1945 but completed conversion only after the end of the war. Following replenishment at sea exercises in 1946, she supported outlying bases and ships until she was decommissioned in May 1947 and placed in reserve.

Jupiter was recommissioned in October 1950 as part of the naval buildup for the Korean War. She operated out of Japan in support of forces in Korea between January 1951 and August 1952 and again between March and October 1953. In 1954 she replenished ships operating in the Formosa area. In March 1955 she sailed for Yokosuka, which became her home port for the next nine years as she supported 7th Fleet units during a series of Cold War crises. She was decommissioned and placed in the Maritime Administration reserve fleet in June 1964, transferred to the Maritime Administration in August 1965, and sold for scrapping in March 1971.