Following a period of
shakedown training off the
US East Coast,
Alkaid sailed on 6 May 1944, for the
Pacific Ocean, via
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the
Panama Canal. On 14 June, the ship touched at
Espiritu Santo and reported to
Service Squadron 8 for duty. For the duration of her
World War II service,
Alkaid acted as an interisland transport. Some of the ports she visited included
Noumea,
New Caledonia;
Guadalcanal;
Tulagi;
Suva,
Fiji;
Auckland and
Wellington, New Zealand;
Efate,
New Hebrides;
Oro Bay,
New Guinea;
Iwo Jima;
Guam; and
Eniwetok. On 15 May 1945,
Alkaid sailed from
Ulithi, with a
convoy bound for
Okinawa. She arrived off
Hagushi beach on 21 May, and operated there through the end of the month.
Alkaid touched at
Pearl Harbor in early August. She was undergoing availability when she received word of the
Japanese surrender. In September, the ship got underway for Japan. After making calls at Eniwetok,
Saipan, and Iwo Jima,
Alkaid dropped anchor at
Yokosuka, Japan, on 4 October. For the next one and one-half months, the ship served with the occupation forces in Japan. On 16 November,
Alkaid left Japan with a load of homeward-bound American troops and reached
Long Beach, California, on 9 December 1945. On 4 January 1946,
Alkaid departed Long Beach for
San Francisco, California, arriving on 6 January 1946. ==Decommissioning==