Following
shakedown and amphibious training off southern
California,
Oak Hill, designed to serve as a cargo and transport type amphibious ship and as a floating
dry dock, ferried cargo between the west coast and
Hawaii. In early May she engaged in rehearsals for
Operation Forager, the thrust into the
Marianas, and, at the end of the month, sailed west in Task Group 52.16 (TG 52.16). With
tank-bearing
LCMs and troops of the
2nd Marine Division on board, she arrived in transport area off
Saipan early on 15 June. Her boats soon away and headed for the beachhead, the LSD took up repair duties, working on LCMs,
LCVPs and
LCTs until the 22nd. She then headed back to
Pearl Harbor to resume shuttling cargo and landing craft between Hawaii and the west coast. On 12 August,
Oak Hill, with tanks and soldiers of the
710th Tank Battalion embarked, headed west again. Following rehearsals for the
Palau operation at
Guadalcanal, she was off
Babelthaup by 15 September. There she feinted toward
Namai Bay, then proceeded to
Angaur, sent her tank laden LCTs in, and again repaired landing craft. Departing the
Palaus on the 21st, she moved to
Ulithi, thence proceeded to
New Guinea arriving at
Humboldt Bay on the 29th to prepare for the
invasion of the Philippines. On 20 October
Oak Hill stood off
Leyte and launched
LCMs and
LVTs carrying
1st Cavalry Division units toward White beach. For the next two months she carried reinforcements from New Guinea to Leyte and then, on Christmas Day, arrived at
Morotai to prepare for the
Lingayen Gulf offensive. Departing the 28th, she proceeded to
Sansapor, thence, on 1 January 1945, to the Philippines. On the 9th she dispatched LCTs and LCVPs to the
Luzon beachhead, then withdrew to Leyte to begin ferrying reinforcements from there, and from Morotai, to the assault area. Sailing to the
Solomons on 2 February,
Oak Hill rehearsed with units of the
1st Marine Division for her next operation, the
Okinawa campaign. On 1 April, she arrived in transport area Baker, lowered her LCMs for the assault on Blue Beach and then began repairing landing craft. Through the end of May, she remained in the
Hagushi area for repair duties. Then she transported
Marines and tanks to
Iheya Shima and to
Aguni Shima before steaming back to Leyte, 10 June. For the remainder of the war,
Oak Hill transported men and equipment from the central Pacific to the Philippines and Okinawa. Post-war duties at
Jinsen, Korea, and
Qingdao, China, occupied the remainder of her tour in the Far East. In February 1946 she got underway for the United States and on 17 March 1947 she decommissioned and was berthed at
San Diego as a unit of the
Pacific Reserve Fleet. == 1951–1965 ==