A county in North Dakota gave Bottineau (APA-235) her name. Kaiser at Vancouver, Washington, launched her on 22 November 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract, with Mrs. Paul Durand as sponsor. The Navy took her over on 30 December 1944 and commissioned her that day, Captain H. B. Edgar in command.
With the Pacific Fleet she carried ammunition to Pearl Harbor during March 1945. On 9 April she left Pearl Harbor with replacement troops for Saipan, in the Marianas, and she took casualties off Okinawa before she was back in the United States on 10 June 1945. Further replacements then went out to the Philippines, and she returned to Pearl Harbor to prepare for an invasion of Japan.
Japan surrendered before that invasion. On 1 October 1945 men of the 98th Division left her at Wakayama, on Honshu. She sailed on 6 October for Guam and brought Pacific veterans home, reaching Seattle on 26 January 1946. From February through May 1946 she ran between San Francisco and San Diego. On 25 May she left San Pedro, reached Bikini Atoll on 6 June, and served as transport for the boarding teams of the target ships during Operation Crossroads. San Francisco received her on 21 August. She went out of commission in reserve there on 8 March 1947. One battle star was credited for the war.
She recommissioned on 24 March 1951 and served with the Pacific Fleet's amphibious forces until August, then steamed to Norfolk, arriving 4 September. Atlantic Fleet duty, amphibious training and other peacetime work, lasted until she decommissioned at Philadelphia on 31 August 1955.