Built in 1939 as MS Mangalia for the Romanian State Maritime Service by Cantieri Navali Riuniti, Palermo, Italy, was taken over while lying idle at New York City, 25 June 1941, by the U.S. Maritime Commission under the authority of Public Law 101 (77th Congress) and Executive Order 8771; acquired by the Navy on a bareboat charter from WSA, 11 August 1941; renamed Pleiades (AK-46), 3 September 1941; and commissioned 25 October 1941.

Following an abbreviated shakedown, Pleiades loaded cargo at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and on 22 November, got underway on her first convoy run through the U-boat infested waters of the North Atlantic Ocean to Iceland.

Steaming south, 25 July 1943, Pleiades spent August, September, and October on a Brazilian run, then, in mid-November returned to the North Atlantic to ply those waters again until June 1944.

Converted to a general stores issue vessel, she joined Service Force, Atlantic, 3 July, and three weeks later departed Lynnhaven Roads for the Mediterranean.

Her crew members were eligible for the following medals: This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.