USS Tangier, first of a class of three 11,760-ton seaplane tenders, was launched at Oakland, California, in 1939 as the merchant ship Sea Arrow. Taken over by the Navy in 1940, she remained at her builders' for conversion work and went into full commission in August 1941. Tangier went to Pearl Harbor in November and was employed supporting the expanded force of patrol seaplanes based there during a time of increasing tensions with Japan. She was present during the 7 December 1941 air raid on Pearl Harbor and was slightly damaged when a Japanese bomb exploded nearby.

About a week later, Tangier was sent toward Wake Island with supplies for its Marine garrison, but was recalled when Wake was captured by Japanese forces on 23 December. In February 1942, the tender steamed to the south Pacific, where she stayed until June, maintaining seaplane patrols out of Noumea, New Caledonia. Her planes played a supporting role in the May 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea.

Following a west coast overhaul, Tangier again was based in the south Pacific in February-August 1943, then served on transport duty between the war zone and the United States. From March 1944 until June 1945, the ship's base moved steadily forward from Australia to the Philippines as her seaplanes assisted the Seventh Fleet and General MacArthur's forces during their advance across New Guinea and northwards.

Tangier was receiving the attentions of a stateside shipyard when the Pacific War ended in August 1945, but was sent back to the Far East to support occupation efforts from October 1945 into March 1946. She then made the long trip back to the U.S., passing through the Panama Canal and arriving at Norfolk, Virginia, in late April. The next month, she began deactivation at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tangier decommissioned there in February 1947 and remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until 1961. In November of that year, she was sold for scrapping.