USS Union (AKA-106) was a of the United States Navy, the fourth ship with this name, and served as a commissioned ship for 25 years and 1 month. She was laid down as a Type C2-S-AJ3 ship named North Carolina (MC 1697) on 27 September 1944 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, N.C.; launched on 23 November 1944 and renamed Union at the time of launching; sponsored by Mrs. William Olive Burgin; moved to the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co. at Hoboken, N.J., to undergo conversion into an attack transport for use by the United States Navy; and commissioned on 25 April 1945. Service history World War II and afterwards, 1945 After provisioning and receiving ammunition on 6 May, Union proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, for shakedown training. She returned to the Norfolk Navy Yard on 15 May for availability and loading before departing for Pearl Harbor. On 27 May, the ship left Norfolk for the Canal Zone and arrived at Hawaii on 18 June 1945. After unloading her cargo and undergoing availability for repairs, Union left Honolulu on 16 July en route to Eniwetok and Guam. Stopping briefly at Eniwetok on 24 July, Union proceeded to Guam where she arrived on 2 August 1945. The ship received orders to transport cargo to Leyte in the Philippines and got underway on 20 August. Upon arrival, she was directed to unload and proceed at once to Cebu where she loaded and transported units of the Americal Division to Japan as part of Transport Squadron (TransRon) 13, consisting of some 22 ships. The group steamed into Yokohama harbor on 8 September, and she unloaded her cargo and the Army personnel. Two days later, Union got underway for a turnaround trip to the Philippines. She was diverted to Okinawa to pick up repatriated prisoners of war for Guam where she arrived on 16 September. Union remained at Guam through 2 October when she set course for Tsingtao, China, to transport marines for occupation duty. On 24 October 1945, Union anchored at Manila, then made a round trip to Subic Bay with to pick up landing craft replacements for the entire squadron. The ship departed Manila Bay on 30 October for Haiphong, French Indochina, to embark elements of the 52nd Chinese Nationalist Army for transportation to Chinwangtao, North China. Having disembarked the troops and equipment on 12 November, Union proceeded to Taku, China, and remained there