USS Moose (IX-124), an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the moose, a large ruminant animal of the deer family, found in Canada and the northern United States. Originally named Mason L. Weems, she was renamed Moose 27 October 1943. Her keel was laid down on 1 November 1943 by Delta Shipbuilding Company in New Orleans, Louisiana (T. 2.ETI.S.C3). She was launched on 17 December 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Douglas E. Schultheiss, acquired by the Navy on a bareboat charter from the War Shipping Administration on 27 January 1944, and commissioned on 28 January 1944 with Lieutenant Gerald E. Spencer in command.