USS Lassen (AE-3) was built as MS Shooting Star under a U.S. Maritime Commission contract, was delivered to the U.S. Navy after sea trials, and became an ammunition cargo ship during World War II. Like many Naval ships of this category that carried large amounts of explosive cargo, she was named for a volcano (or a volcanic island). In this case, the ship was named for Lassen Peak, a volcano in northern California that erupted heavily in 1914–17. Construction and commission Shooting Star was built by the Tampa Shipbuilding Company in Tampa, Florida, under a Maritime Commission contract. She was the second of eight C2 type motor ships of a series constructed by Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Tampa, Florida powered by twin Nordberg diesels, the first being . The ship was intended for American Pioneer Line's service to Asia and Australia. She was launched on 10 January 1940, christened by Mrs. Fred C. Cone. The ship was acquired by the Navy on 15 November 1940, and commissioned four days later for transfer to a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, for conversion to a naval ammunition ship, with Lieutenant Commander A. B. Kerr in command. The vessel was re-commissioned in her modified form on 27 March 1941, with Commander Russell S. Berkey of the U.S. Navy in command. Service history World War II In the months previous to the outbreak of World War II for the United States, the Lassen made ammunition deliveries along both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of the U.S., and in July 1941, she steamed to Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, and then returned to the Atlantic Coast. On 22 November 1941, she departed from Norfolk, Virginia, en route to San Francisco, her homeport, and war broke out during this voyage. After round-trip delivery voyages to the Samoa Islands, the Fiji Islands, and Pearl Harbor, the Lassen began duty as an advanced base supply ship. Departing from San Francisco on 26 August 1942, the Lassen replenished naval ships in New Caledonia from 19 September to 17 January 1943. The ship arrived back at San Francisco on 23 January 1943 for repairs, the installation of radar equipment, and an upgrade in her air-defense armament. On 18 May 1943, the Lassen arrived at Espiritu Santo, in the New Hebrides, to resume dispensing war ammunition to the Navy fleet in the South Pacific. She also resupplied warships from the port