Rocky Mount, AGC-3, was an Appalachian-class amphibious force command ship, the third of the type. Federal Shipbuilding at Kearny, New Jersey, laid her down on 4 December 1942 as a C2 merchant hull, Maritime Commission contract MC 202, for Moore-McCormack Lines. She was launched on 7 March 1943, acquired by the Navy on 13 March 1943, and converted by Bethlehem Steel at Hoboken. DANFS gives her commissioning date as 15 October 1943, and NavSource gives 16 October, Captain Stanley F. Patten in command.
She reached Pearl Harbor on 27 December 1943, and on 10 January 1944 became flagship of Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner, Commander, 5th Amphibious Force. She sailed on 22 January and arrived off Kwajalein on 31 January. Turner directed the operation from her until Kwajalein was secured on 4 February, and she then became flagship of the task group that took Eniwetok.
She was flagship for the Joint Expeditionary Force at Saipan on 15 June 1944, with Vice Admiral Turner and Lieutenant General Holland Smith embarked, then went to Guam and Tinian. At Leyte she bombarded from 21 to 24 October, silencing mortar fire that had damaged several beached LSTs. She was flagship of Attack Group Baker at Lingayen Gulf from 6 January 1945, then directed the Zamboanga landings in March, the Tarakan landings in April and the Brunei Bay landings in June. Rear Admiral Royal died of a heart attack aboard on 18 June 1945. After the surrender she was flagship of the Seventh Fleet, took Admiral Kinkaid on board at Jinsen on 10 September, and led Allied ships up the Yangtze and Huangpu to Shanghai on 19 September.
DANFS says she came through all her operations unscathed. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 22 March 1947 and struck on 1 July 1960. NavSource says she was sold for scrapping on 1 March 1973. DANFS gives six battle stars and NavSource gives seven, plus the Navy Unit Commendation.