High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Pelias (AS–14), a Griffin-class submarine tender, was laid down as SS Mormacyork under Maritime Commission contract by Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania, 8 May 1939; launched 14 November 1939; sponsored by Miss Barbara W. Vickery; and delivered to Moore-McCormick Steamship Co., 1 April 1940. Mormacyork served for a short time on passenger service between ports in the United States and South America. Acquired by the Navy late in 1940, she was renamed Pelias 9 January 1941 and converted for Navy use as a submarine tender by Bethlehem Steel Co., Brooklyn, N.Y. Pelias commissioned at New York 5 September 1941, Comdr. William Wakefield in command.