Aquarius, AKA-16, was an Andromeda-class attack cargo ship. Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock laid her down at Kearny, New Jersey, on 28 April 1943 as Maritime Commission hull 205 and launched her on 23 July. The Navy acquired her on 20 August and commissioned her the next day, Captain Raymond V. Marron, U.S. Coast Guard, in command. She was manned by a Coast Guard crew.
She reached the west coast in October 1943 and joined Transport Division 24 of the 5th Amphibious Force. She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 22 January 1944 with Task Force 53. On 31 January she anchored in the transport area off Roi and Namur and unloaded cargo and troops there until 6 February. She then moved to Funafuti and trained with Army troops in the Solomons. In March she took an Army garrison force from Noumea to Emirau, and in April she carried elements of the 40th Division to Cape Gloucester.
Her later landings were Guam in July 1944, Peleliu on 15 September, Leyte in October and again in November, Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945, Zambales and Subic Bay at the end of January, and Okinawa, where she lay off from 1 to 9 April resupplying other ships. After an overhaul at Seattle she reached Nagasaki on 23 September 1945 and unloaded occupation cargo. She then shuttled Chinese troops and supplies between Hong Kong, Chinwangtao and Tsingtao.
She went to New York, was decommissioned on 2 May 1946 (DANFS) or 23 May 1946 (NavSource), turned over to the War Shipping Administration on 12 September 1946, and struck from the Navy list on 13 November 1946. She earned eight battle stars.