A star in the constellation Cephei.

J. S. Cullinan was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 1963) on 5 October 1943 at Houston, Tex., by the Houston Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 13 November 1943; acquired by the Navy and placed in temporary commission as Alder amin (AK-116) on 25 November 1943, Comdr. H. B. Olsen in command; proceeded to Mobile, Ala., and decommissioned on 29 November 1943 to undergo conversion for naval service as a cargo ship; and recommissioned at Mobile on 3 April 1944, Comdr. Edward F luhr in command.

Following shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay, Alderamin sailed to New York City to load cargo for transportation to the Pacific. The vessel made a port call at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before transiting the Panama Canal and reporting to the Pacific Fleet on 28 May. She departed the Canal Zone the next day and proceeded independenily to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. The vessel arrived there on 28 June and began operations with Service Squadron 8, Service Force, Pacific Fleet, as an interisl and cargo transport. Among her ports of call were Suva, Fiji Islands; Noumea, New Caledonia; Guadalcanal,Bougainville, Tulagi and Green Island, Solomon Islands; Russell Islands, Treasury Islands; Manus, Admiralty Islands; Wellington, New Zealand; Eniwetok, Marshall Islands; Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands; Guam, Mariana Islands; and Ulithi, Caroline Islands.

Alderamin was moored at Iwo Jima at the time of the Japanese capitulation on 15 August 1945. She got underway two days later to return to the United States. The vessel made port calls at Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before arriving at Sa n Francisco, Calif., on 22 September. She sailed once again on 24 October, bound for Shanghai, China. She touched at Pearl Harbor, Guam, and Samar, Philippine Islands, before reaching Shanghai on 8 December. After taking on military personnel fo r passage back to the United States, Alderamin got underway again on the llth. On 1 February 1946, she arrived back at San Francisco and debarked her passengers. She then began preparations for deactivation. Alderarmin was decommissioned on 10 April 1945 and was delivered to the War Shipping Administration for disposal. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 May 1946. The ship was later scrapped.