USS Tuscana (AKN-3) was an Indus-class net cargo ship in the service of the United States Navy in World War II.

Tuscana was laid down 5 December 1943 as liberty ship SS William R. Cox (MCE hull 2406) by Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, under a Maritime Commission contract; launched on 29 December 1943; sponsored by Miss Cheshire Cox; acquired by the Navy under bareboat charter and renamed Tuscana on 8 January 1944; converted to a net cargo ship at Baltimore by the Maryland Drydock Co.; and commissioned on 28 March 1944.

Tuscana arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia on 6 April 1944 and operated out of that port, conducting drills and shakedown in Chesapeake Bay.

After completing this vital task, Tuscana arrived at Pearl Harbor on 11 September and began loading stores, buoys, and net materials.

The same day, Viburnum (AN-57), a member of the task unit working with Tuscana, struck a Japanese mine which caused severe damage to the net layer and underscored the ever-present hazards of warfare in the Pacific.

On 2 May, sailors on board Tuscana saw the flash of firing off the ship's starboard quarter and later observed the glow of an explosion which they thought marked the fiery end of a Japanese suicide boat.

For Tuscana, the action began at 07:25, when a Japanese airplane crashed into a merchant ship only 800 yards off her starboard bow.

During the fight, Tuscana lost her starboard mainmast boom, which was toppled and damaged beyond operational use, and her topping lift was carried away by friendly fire.

At 0758, Tuscana's guns opened on the last of the attackers and ceased fire five minutes later, just as a kamikaze crashed merchant ship SS Josiah Snelling.

During an early afternoon alert on 3 June 1945, Tuscana's gunners splashed a Japanese aircraft only 500 yards off her starboard quarter.

While the ship underwent extensive repairs, members of her crew attended schools in damage control, fire fighting, and radar.

Laid up under the name William R. Cox, the ship remained in custody of the Maritime Administration until she was sold in the late 1960s to Horton Industries, Inc., and scrapped in 1967.