 Launched as the "LSM-398" by the Charleston Navy Yard, on 6 January 1945; sponsored by Mrs. T. B. Thompson; and commissioned on 6 August 1945, Lieutenant L. L. Walters in command.Based at Little Creek, Virginia, the ship operated as a part of the Amphibious Fleet in the Atlantic, taking part in many training assaults (such as "Exercise Seminole" in 1947) in the Caribbean Sea and on the Atlantic coast.The Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Sonar Systems Branch began work on transducers operating at low frequences with specific test frequencies of 1, 5 and 10 kHz.