USS Kitty Hawk (APV-1/AKV-1), formerly SS Seatrain New York, was built in 1932 by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Corporation of Chester, Pennsylvania for Seatrain Lines, Inc. She was acquired by the United States Navy on 25 June 1941; and renamed Kitty Hawk on 8 July. She was named after Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where the Wright brothers made the world's first powered heavier than air flight on 17 December 1903. She was converted to an aircraft transport by Tietjin & Land Dry Dock Corporation, Hoboken, New Jersey and commissioned on 26 November 1941, at New York Navy Yard, with Commander E. C. Rogers in command.