USS Leopard (IX-122), an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was a United States Navy ship named for the leopard, a large and ferocious spotted cat of southern Asia and Africa. Her keel was laid down as William B. Bankhead on October 5, 1943 by Delta Shipbuilding Company, in New Orleans, Louisiana, under a Maritime Commission contract. She was renamed Leopard on October 27, 1943, launched on November 15, 1943 sponsored by Mrs. William B. Bankhead, acquired by the Navy December 24, 1943, and commissioned on December 26, 1943.