Berrien was named for a county in Georgia and Michigan. Consolidated Steel launched her at Wilmington, California, on 20 May 1944, and Mrs. Jack Love sponsored her. She was a Gilliam-class attack transport. The Navy took her on 7 October 1944. Lieutenant Commander J. M. Gallagher, USNR, became commanding officer when she was commissioned on 8 October.
She joined the Pacific Fleet and reached Pearl Harbor on 30 November 1944. On 27 January 1945 she left Pearl Harbor and steamed west. Her share of the fighting was the occupation of Iwo Jima from 16 February to 4 March and the occupation of Okinawa from 11 to 16 April.
Between 4 June and 2 July a trip that started at Saipan called in the Solomons, at New Caledonia, and at Guam. She returned to San Francisco on 23 July. Two crossings of the Pacific followed from that port, the first from 17 August 1945 to 1 January 1946 and the second from 16 January to 6 March 1946.
Decommissioning was at Pearl Harbor on 17 May 1946. She went back to the Maritime Commission on 12 August 1947. Two battle stars were awarded for the war.