USS Markab (AD-21) was a Hamul-class destroyer tender named for Markab, the third-brightest star in the constellation Pegasus. Markab was built as the cargo ship Mormacpenn by Ingalls Shipbuilding Company of Pascagoula, Mississippi and launched 21 December 1940. A ship named Mormacpenn launched the previous year had been acquired by the Navy to become the USS Griffin. The later Mormacpenn, sponsored at launch by the wife of the General Counsel of the Maritime Commission, Mrs. Carl F. Farbach, was intended for service on the South American routes of the American Republics Line. The ship was acquired by the United States Navy on 2 June 1941 before any commercial service at Charleston, South Carolina; and commissioned as USS Markab (AK 31) on 15 June 1941.
Following the Japanese surrender, Markab refitted and restocked ships bound for the occupation areas of Japan, Korea, and China. Steaming in their wake, she arrived Sasebo, Japan on 1 November and early in January 1946 joined the 7th Fleet at Shanghai, China. Her services in the western Pacific ended 2 April as Markab commenced the long voyage home for inactivation. The ship off loaded at New Orleans beginning 6 May. At Orange, Texas on January, 1947 she decommissioned and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
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