The ship, a Type T2-SE-A3 tanker, was completed as SS Mission San Francisco and delivered after the end of World War II.

The tanker was acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1947 as USS Mission San Francisco (AO-123), but was transferred to the Military Sea Transport Service (MSTS) upon its creation in 1949.

During a second stint with the MSTS that began in 1954, Mission San Francisco collided with the freighter Elna II in the Delaware River coast and was declared unsalvageable by the U.S. Navy.

Mission San Francisco was laid down on 5 May 1945 as Contocook under a Maritime Commission contract by Marinship Corporation, Sausalito, California; launched on 18 September 1945, sponsored by Mrs. John J. Manning; and delivered on 11 October 1945.

Declared unsalvageable by the Navy, Mission San Francisco was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 March 1957.