The first USS Auburn (ID-3842) was a steam turbine cargo ship of the United States Shipping Board that was built in 1919 and scrapped in 1934. In 1919 she briefly served in the United States Navy.

Building
The Chester Shipbuilding Company at Chester, Pennsylvania built Auburn for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). She was launched in 1918 and completed in 1919.

Auburns registered length was , her beam was  and her depth was . Her tonnages were  and . She had a single screw, driven by a pair of Westinghouse steam turbines via double reduction gearing. The USSB registered her at Philadelphia. Her US official number was 217438 and her code letters were LPKN.

Career
The USSB delivered Auburn to the US Navy for service in the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS). Assigned the identification number 3842, Auburn was commissioned at Philadelphia on the afternoon of 24 January 1919.

Two days later, the cargo ship got underway for New York harbor, proceeded down Delaware Bay, and dropped anchor off Tompkinsville, Staten Island, on the morning of 27 January. After initially shifting to Bush Terminal pier, South Brooklyn, on the 29th, she moored at pier 61, North River, New York City, on 2 February. There, she loaded 5,236 tons of general cargo (including a large quantity of wheat flour) and prepared for her maiden voyage. However, her engineers discovered several split condenser tubes in her boilers before the trip could begin, and an inspection board convened and visited the ship on 15 February.

After a brief period of repairs, Auburn moved to pier 16, South Brooklyn, on the 17th. By that time, the Navy had apparently decided to demobilize her, and, on the afternoon of 22 February 1919, representatives of the USSB accepted custody of the ship when she was decommissioned.

Auburn'''s subsequent career, like hers under the aegis of NOTS, was brief. She remained in the USSB fleet into the early 1930s, very probably laid up due to postwar austerity measures in the American merchant marine."Auburn'' was recorded as "broken up" in 1934.

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1918 ships
Cargo ships of the United States Navy
Ships built in Chester, Pennsylvania
Steamships of the United States Navy
World War I cargo ships of the United States