[3] From October 1942 to December 1945 she was a United States Navy stores ship in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II.

[1] In 1930 or 1931 United Fruit transferred San Benito to its subsidiary Balboa Shipping Company, Inc, which registered her under the Panamanian flag of convenience.

On 20 August 1942 San Benito was renamed Taurus and designated AF-25, and on 2 October 1942 the War Shipping Administration acquired her for the US Navy.

[3] The Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in Alameda, California converted her into a provisions store ship,[3] and on 28 October 1942 she was commissioned into the Navy,[3] commanded by Lt. Cmdr.

After over a month of false starts and technical problems, Taurus finally loaded cargo and left San Francisco, California, on 1 December.

On arrival at Auckland, Taurus went into a five-week availability[clarification needed] to correct as many of the deficiencies as possible before beginning her tour of duty with the Service Squadron, South Pacific Force.

On 9 February she began the first of four round-trip voyages carrying cargo between Auckland and Espiritu Santo to be staged on to the forward areas.

[3] Taurus' crew members were awarded the following medals: This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.