USS Giraffe (IX-118), an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the giraffe, a large ruminant mammal of Africa, having a very long neck that makes it the tallest of quadrupeds. Her keel was laid down as Sanford B. Dole by the California Shipbuilding Corporation, in Wilmington, California. She was launched on 11 November 1943 sponsored by Miss Mary F. Leddy and commissioned on 12 December 1943 with Lieutenant Commander Frederick F. Daly, USNR, commanding.