Ordered as SS Juan de Fuca Acquired 23 September 1945 Out of service 22 August 1946 Construction started 15 November 1942 Length 129 m Displacement 12.94 million kg | Laid down 15 November 1942 In service 23 September 1945 Struck 29 October 1948 Launched 27 December 1942 Weight 14,500 tons Builder Kaiser Shipyards | |
The USS Araner (IX-226) was laid down as the liberty ship SS Juan de Fuca under a Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 1747) on 15 November 1942 at Vancouver, Washington, by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company and launched on 27 December 1942. She was delivered to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 11 January 1943.
Throughout World War II, she served as a cargo carrier operated under a WSA contract by the Weyerhauser Steamship Company. During the Mindoro Campaign she was torpedoed and damaged by a Japanese aircraft, without casualties, in the Philippine Sea 20 miles off Mindoro, The Philippines. She was beached on Ambulong Island. She was refloated and towed to Subic Bay. Later repaired and entered United States Navy service as USS Araner (IX-226) on 23 September 1945 and placed in service that same day with Lieutenant Henry Morath in charge.
Araner appears to have contributed very little service to the United States Navy. She was inspected by an inspection and survey board at Leyte during October, the month following the beginning of her naval service. In January 1946, probably as a result of that inspection, she received orders to be towed to Subic Bay where all her naval gear was stripped pending her deactivation. On 22 August 1946, she was placed out of service at Subic Bay and simultaneously turned over to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration for disposal. That organization finally sold her to the Asia Development Corporation. on 3 March 1948 for scrapping. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 29 October 1948.