Specifications:
Displacement 6,556 t.(lt) 13,900 t.(fl)
Length 459' 2"
Beam 63'
Draft 26' 4"
Speed 16 kts.
Complement 247
Cargo Capacity 4,450 dwt cargo
Armament one 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount, four twin 40mm gun mounts, eighteen single 20mm gun mounts
Boats 8 LCMs, 1 LCP(L), 15 LCVPs
Propulsion steam turbine, single shaft, 6,000shp

A county in North Carolina.

 (AKA-87: displacement 6,350; length 459'2"; beam 63'; draft 26'4"; speed 16 knots; complement 429; armament 1 5", 8 40-millimeter, 16 20 millimeter; class Tolland; Type C2-S-AJ3)

 Duplin (AKA-87) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC Hull 1401) on 18 August 1944 at Wilmington, N.C., by North Carolina Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 17 October 1944; sponsored by Miss Mary Jennette; acquired by the Navy on 30 October 1944 and, 97.9% completed, was placed in service the same day. Taken in tow for the trip to her conversion yard on 7 November 1944; towed by the tug Race Point; converted by Bethlehem Steel Co., Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, Md., departed for Norfolk, Virginia, on 16 December 1944 and arrived the next day; placed out of service on 18 December 1944; and commissioned at the Norfolk (Virginia) Navy Yard on 15 May 1945, Commander Herbert B. Fluck, USNR, in command.

 Following commissioning, Duplin reported for shakedown on 27 May 1945, and completed that training on 6 June. Assigned to the Naval Transportation Service (NTS), the new attack cargo ship departed Hampton Roads on 12 June 1945 for Marseilles, France, arriving at her destination on 24 June 1945 to embark Army troops and cargo earmarked for the Pacific, German prisoners-of-war providing the necessary labor. Duplin sailed singly from Marseilles on 9 July. Transiting the Panama Canal between 24 and 26 July, the ship reported to the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, for duty on the latter date. She then proceeded on to Manila, and during her passage westward the war in the Pacific ended in mid-August; she reached her destination on 23 August, unloading cargo and discharging her passengers within 24 hours time. Shifting to Aringay, Lingayen Gulf, the ship began embarking troops of the U.S. Army's 33rd Division on 5 September, and sailed in convoy on 20 September for Wakayama, Honshu. Arriving off her destination on 27 September, she disembarked her troops and discharged cargo soon thereafter. Returning to the Philippines, the attack cargo ship arrived at Tolomo, Mindanao, on 10 October, part of her passage having been enlivened by heavy seas. She made a similar voyage to land troops of the 24th Division, embarking them beginning on 15 October and putting them ashore at Matsuyama, Shikoku, on 22 October. "Stevedoring was performed industriously by Japanese prisoners," an observer in Duplin later wrote, "who were amazed at the efficient cargo handling of the American Blue Jackets..."

Following completion of that occupation troop lift, Duplin proceeded to Mitsugahama Roads to await further assignments; assigned thence to Commander, Western Sea Frontier, the ship embarked homeward bound officers and men in the Matsuyama area, then sailed for Nagoya on 6 November 1945, arriving the following day. Embarking another large contingent of U.S.-bound men, the attack cargo vessel sailed for San Francisco, California, on 9 November. Re-routed to Seattle, Washington, during the return trip, Duplin reached Port Townsend, Wash., as part of the "Magic Carpet" operation on 20 November, "safely and expeditiously delivering happy personnel to the welcome shore of their beloved United States of America."

 Dropping down the west coast to San Francisco, arriving on 12 December 1945, Duplin loaded cargo for occupation forces in Japan, and sailed three days after Christmas (28 December 1945) on her final run to the Far East. Touching at Sasebo (15-24 January 1946) and Yokosuka (26 January-7 February). Returning to San Francisco on 20 February, she loaded cargo (including eight LCM-3 landing craft), and ultimately departed Oakland, Calif., on 6 March for the east coast.  During her passage Norfolk-ward, she embarked a USO troupe in the Canal Zone (14-18 March). Ultimately making port at Norfolk on 26 March, Duplin was decommissioned on 21 May 1946 and re-delivered to the Maritime Commission the following day at Lee Hall, Virginia, on 22 May, and transferred to the War Shipping Administration on 23 May 1946 for disposal. She was stricken from the Navy Register on 5 June 1946.
Renamed Kathryn, the former attack cargo ship operated under the house flag of A.H. Bull Steamship Company, out of New York through the end of the 1950s. Renamed a second time, to Rio Grande, she was ultimately scrapped in 1971.