High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Vulcan (AR-5) was the lead ship of her class of repair ships of the United States Navy. The ship was laid down on 16 December 1939 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation; launched on 14 December 1940; sponsored by Mrs. James Forrestal, wife of the Under Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 14 June 1941, Commander Leon S. Fiske in command.