USS Jaguar (IX-120), an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the jaguar, a large leopard-like mammal of wooded regions, typically yellowish brown marked with dark spots. Her keel was laid down as Charles T. Yerkes under Maritime Commission contract (Z-ET1-S-C3) by the California Shipbuilding Corporation, in San Pedro, California. She was launched on 20 November 1943, renamed Jaguar 27 October, acquired by the Navy 15 December 1943 and commissioned that day.
