USS Naos (AK-105) was laid down as SS William R. Nelson under Maritime Commission contract by California Shipbuilding Corp., Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, 8 June 1943, named after Naos

Zeta Puppis

Zeta Puppis is a star in the constellation of Puppis. It is also known by the traditional names Naos and Suhail Hadar in Arabic....

, the star in constellation Puppis

Puppis

Puppis is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is the Latin word for the poop deck of a ship, and Puppis represents the deck of the ship and its deckhouses...

. Naos was launched 30 June 1943 and sponsored by Miss Barbara Quarg. The ship was delivered to the Navy under bareboat charter

Bareboat charter

A bareboat charter is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat, whereby no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement; instead, the people who rent the vessel from the owner are responsible for taking care of such things....

 15 July 1943, converted for Navy use by Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp., San Pedro, California, and commissioned at San Pedro 17 August 1943, Lieutenant Commander N. E. Wilcox in command.

1943–1944

Departing San Pedro on 25 August, Naos loaded cargo at San Francisco and made a round trip run to Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 and back between 28 August and 25 October. During the next month she was converted for use as a combination troop transport and cargo ship by General Engineering and Drydock Co., San Francisco. She cleared the Golden Gate

Golden Gate

The Golden Gate is the North American strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Since 1937 it has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge...

 10 December, embarked 1,080 troops at Port Hueneme, and sailed for the South Pacific in convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

 the 12th.

Naos reached Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....

, New Hebrides, 3 January 1944 and discharged her troops and supplies. A week later she sailed for Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

 and thus began shuttle duty throughout much of the South Pacific. Troop and cargo runs during the next eight months sent her to numerous American bases scattered from Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

 and the Ellice Islands to New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

 and the Solomons

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

. While carrying more than 1,000 troops from Tulagi

Tulagi

Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...

 to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 in mid-March, she was pounded by a severe tropical storm which left her relatively undamaged but damaged her escort, PC–588. Naos provided emergency aid before sending the battered escort to New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

.

Maintaining her busy pace of operations, Naos departed Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

 for the Admiralties. She operated out of Manus

Manus Island

Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...

 between 30 September and 25 October, thence sailed the next day to carry troop reinforcements and supplies to the Palaus. She reached Kossol Passage 31 October, and for more than a month she operated in coastal waters off the northern Palaus. During yet another tropical storm 8 November, Naos sent a volunteer crew to rescue 26 men from SC–633 which was thrown upon a reef by heavy seas. Early in December she embarked 1,114 troops and loaded Army tanks at Anguar and Peleliu

Peleliu

Peleliu is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu forms, along with two small islands to its northeast, one of the sixteen states of Palau. It is located northeast of Angaur and southwest of Koror....

 before departing in convoy 8 December. Steaming via the Russell Islands

Russell Islands

The Russell Islands are two small islands, as well as several islets, of volcanic origin, in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. They are located approximately 48 km northwest from Guadalcanal. The islands are partially covered in coconut plantations, and have a copra and oil factory at...

, she returned to Noumea

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

 22 December. Four days later she resumed shuttle runs which continued throughout the South Pacific for the next five months.

1945–1946

After embarking Seabee units at Nouméa, Naos sailed for Okinawa 15 May 1945. She touched at bases in the Solomons

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, the Marshalls

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

, and the Western Carolines and finally arrived off Hagushi Beach, Okinawa, 11 July. She completed discharge and reload operations later that month, and on the 29th she joined a 65-ship convoy bound for the Marianas

Mariana Islands

The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...

. Sailing via Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

, she reached Pearl Harbor 22 August.

Following the Japanese surrender, Naos returned to the western Pacific carrying repatriated prisoners-of-war and military cargo. She arrived Okinawa 2 October; and, after steaming to avoid Typhoon Louise a week later, she embarked 1,040 troops for return to the United States. She sailed 14 October and arrived San Francisco 5 November. Naos decommissioned there 6 December 1945 and was returned to WSA the same day. Her name was struck from the Navy List

Navy List

A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....

3 January 1946. She remained in custody of the Maritime Administration under the name William R. Nelson until sold for scrap in 1962.