The second USS Tangier (AV-8) was a Maritime Commission type C-3 cargo ship, converted to a seaplane tender in the United States Navy during World War II.

The ship was acquired by the U.S. Navy during completion before any commercial service, put back into the builder's yard, and converted to a seaplane tender during 1940.

Successful construction of the first ship answered questions raised about whether Pacific coast shipyards could find enough skilled labor, particularly mechanics to install high pressure engineering plants, to compete.

[3][4][5] Sea Arrow was immediately acquired by the Navy and renamed with the other three hulls being designated after launch or still under construction for Moore-McCormack Lines.

[6] The ship was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 51) as Sea Arrow on 18 March 1939 at Oakland, California by Moore Dry Dock Company; launched on 15 September 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Joseph R.

[2] Tangier arrived at Pearl Harbor on 3 November and moored at berth F-10 forward of the former battleship Utah directly astern at F-11.

[2] At 07:55 on the morning of 7 December 1941, the first of two waves of Japanese carrier-based aircraft swooped in on the Pacific Fleet, moored at Pearl Harbor.

[8] During the ensuing melee, Tangier's gunners claimed three enemy aircraft and hits on a midget submarine which had penetrated the harbor's defenses.

She and another seaplane tender—Curtiss—shelled the submarine, but the destroyer Monaghan finished it off with a two-pronged attack, subjecting it to a ramming and following up with a cascade of depth charges.

Then, she rode idly at anchor for two days while the aircraft carrier Saratoga—around which the Wake relief force was to be built—steamed to Pearl from San Diego.

Saratoga entered Pearl Harbor on 15 December, and Tangier departed the same afternoon in company with the fleet oiler Neches and a destroyer division while the carrier refueled.

However, the relief expedition was ordered back to Oahu after a Japanese force of at least two fleet carriers and two heavy cruisers were spotted headed for Wake.

For the next three and one-half months, she performed routine tender services for PBYs flying long-range searches to the north of New Caledonia, almost as far as the lower Solomons.

In late April and early May, her group of seaplanes was increased to 12 in anticipation of a fleet action in the Coral Sea.

When the battle came to pass, however, her planes had to content themselves with rescuing survivors of the destroyer Sims and oiler Neosho, sunk on 7 May by the Japanese who mistook them for a cruiser and carrier, respectively, and of the torpedoed Greek freighter SS Chloe.

[2] Tangier completed overhaul in September and, after loading aviation equipment at the Alameda Naval Air Station, departed San Francisco for Pearl Harbor, Suva, and ultimately Espiritu Santo, where she arrived on 28 February 1943.

In September–October, she made two voyages from Pearl Harbor to American Samoa and one to San Diego, before returning to Espiritu Santo on 6 November with a load of aviation cargo.

On 12 February, the seaplane tender moved to Mangarin Bay, Mindoro, to run day searches over the South China Sea as far north as the coast of French Indochina and Hainan Island.

For the next three months, her planes flew searches and antishipping missions over the South China Sea in the direction of Hong Kong, Swatow, and Formosa.

[2] On 22 March 1946 Tangier set sail for the U.S. making a brief visit to Pearl Harbor in early April then transiting the Panama Canal in mid-month.

Following a short voyage back to Norfolk and to Yorktown, Virginia, the seaplane tender returned to Philadelphia on 11 May 1946 to prepare for in-activation.

[2] On 23 January 1962 the ship was formally transferred from the Navy to the Maritime Administration and immediately sold to Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation for either scrap or conversion.

On 17 April 1963 Sea Land to Beauregard, Inc., which operated the ship until purchased by Litton Industries Leasing Corporation on 12 November 1964.

Detroit was sold to the Dutch company B. V. Intershitra on 3 October 1974 for scrapping which was completed at Valencia, Spain by Aguilar Y. Peris S.