"Algol" completed shakedown training along the California coast by 3 September. She then put into Oakland and began loading cargo. She departed Oakland on 4 October bound for the western Pacific. Steaming via Eniwetok Atoll, she arrived at Saipan in the Mariana Islands late in October. After unloading her cargo at Saipan, "Algol" got underway for New Guinea on 31 October. The attack cargo ship put into Hollandia on 6 November and remained there two days before pushing on to Nouméa, New Caledonia, where she stopped between 24 November and 17 December. On 17 December, "Algol" headed for Guadalcanal where she participated in landing exercises in preparation for the assault on Luzon at Lingayen Gulf. At the end of the year, she moved up to the staging area at Manus in the Admiralty Islands.