The ship, renamed Thomas F. Farrell Jr., after an engineering officer killed 25 February 1944 at Anzio, began conversion in December, 1943 to an Engineer Port Repair ship manned by a military crew under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The ship did not complete conversion until 30 April 1944 and did not sail for Europe until late summer. The ship was one of the port repair ships making it to Europe in time to assist in the restoration of ports.