The new
President Monroe was just clearing
San Francisco Bay on her maiden voyage around the world when word was flashed to her Master to return, as
Japan had just attacked
Pearl Harbor. She and her six sisterships were immediately acquired by
War Shipping Administration on bareboat charter for outfitting for war service. This was the first large convoy to Australia and the south Pacific after Pearl Harbor with
Mariposa and
Coolidge transporting Army personnel ammunition and fifty
P-40 fighters intended for the Philippines and Java.
Monroe landed 660 troops, an air warning company and a pursuit squadron at Suva on 29 January 1942. Transferred to the Navy 18 July 1943 under WSA bareboat charter to the Navy,
President Monroe shifted to
Pool, McGonigle & Jennings Company yard of
Portland, Oregon for alterations. Commissioned 20 August as the USS
President Monroe (AP-104), she departed Portland 24 August for the
Bremerton Navy Yard for conversion and outfitting. Between 21 and 26 July, she discharged troops and cargo off Guam, then steamed for Eniwetok to embark wounded before proceeding to
San Pedro, California, arriving 22 August 1944. By 4 November, she once again stood out from
San Diego and ended the year operating between Guadalcanal, New Caledonia, and
Port Purvis on
Florida Island in the
Solomons. ==Decommission==