Clearfield was named for a county in Pennsylvania. California Shipbuilding at Wilmington launched her on 21 November 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract. Mrs. F. L. Chambers sponsored the ship. The Navy acquired her on 11 January 1945 and commissioned her the next day, Captain F. C. Stelter, Jr., had command.
A construction battalion and its equipment loaded at Port Hueneme. She sailed on 9 March 1945 and called at Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, and Ulithi on the way to Okinawa, where she arrived on 17 April. Passengers and gear went ashore at Ie Shima. The battalion's job was to build an airfield. On 26 April she left Okinawa, took Army replacements aboard at San Francisco, and disembarked them at Manila on 23 June.
Occupation troops were next shifted from place to place among the Philippine islands. Manila fell astern on 27 August, Tokyo was the destination, and soldiers landed there on 2 September. Beginning 4 September she worked between Okinawa, Manila, and Chinese ports, carrying Marines and Chinese troops for the reoccupation of northern China.
On 2 December 1945 she started for Tacoma and an overhaul, then continued east. She made Norfolk on 4 February 1946. The commission ended on 4 March, and two days afterward the War Shipping Administration had her again. One battle star marked her World War II record.