"FS-257" was laid down in 1944 by Wheeler Shipbuilding, Whitestone, New York, yard number 71, for delivery to the United States Army. On 24 June 1944 the U.S. Coast Guard manned freighter was commissioned at New York with Lt. G. P. Hammond, USCG as commanding officer. On 26 June "FS-257" departed for the Southwest Pacific operating there through the landings at Leyte. In July 1945 the ship ran aground in the general vicinity of Maripipi island and was assisted off the beach by "FS-406".