She was laid down in 1943 at Eureka, California by Chicago Bridge & Iron Company and launched in April 1944 as the unnamed, one-section, steel, floating dry dock AFDL-7. The non-self-propelled floating dry dock was then towed from Eureka, Calif., to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and approximately three weeks later to Kwajelein, Marshall Islands. She laid at anchor at Kwajelein until April 1945, at which time the Navy towed her to Eniwetok, a journey of two days. During World War II, she docked small naval combatants — up to the size of destroyer escorts — for hull repairs.