USS Araner was a wooden-hulled auxiliary ketch, designed by Jack Hanna, built in 1926 at Essex, Massachusetts by the Arthur D. Story Shipyards, and acquired by motion picture director John Ford in June 1934.

During the 1930s, the yacht served as a place where Ford could escape the bustle of Hollywood in the company of friends, including John Wayne, Ward Bond, Maureen O'Hara, Preston Foster and Wingate Smith.

[3] The film director was appointed a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy Reserve in September 1934 and, according to one of his biographers, used Araner off Baja California for intelligence-gathering operations.

Shortly thereafter, America's entry into World War II in December 1941 prompted the United States Navy to acquire many private vessels and Araner was among them, for local patrol duties.

Acquired by Fran M. Dimond, of Honolulu, the craft retained her name into 1974, when she was bought by the San Marino Travel Service.