USS Caribou (IX-114), an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the caribou. Her keel was laid down by the California Shipbuilding Corporation, in Wilmington, California, as Nathaniel B. Palmer under a Maritime Commission contract. She was launched on 2 November 1943 sponsored by Mrs. T. A. Gregory, acquired by the Navy on 25 November 1943 and commissioned the same day with Lieutenant Commander A. J. Nall in command, and reported to the Pacific Fleet.