The name is a county in east-central South Dakota. Mrs. Leonard Euckler sponsored the Haskell attack transport. Oregon Shipbuilding Corp. at Portland launched her on 16 November 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract, and Commander J. H. Hughes commissioned her on 6 December 1944.
Shakedown followed the California coast. She left San Pedro on 9 February 1945. Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok were the stops before Iwo Jima, reached on 14 March, where Marines worn out by the fighting came aboard. Guam and Eniwetok lay on the return, which ended at Pearl Harbor on 5 April.
On 22 May she sailed for Seattle and arrived on 29 May. Soldiers, 1,507 of them, embarked before a 15 June departure aimed again at Iwo Jima. She arrived on 7 July, sent the passengers ashore, and on 10 July left with 262 military passengers. Pearl Harbor received that group on the 21st.
Japan's occupation was the next assignment. She cleared Pearl Harbor on 1 September, called at Saipan, and entered Sasebo on 22 September, where the 5th Marine Division went ashore on occupation duty. A round trip between Japan and the Philippines, from 25 September to 14 October, moved still more occupation troops. Back in the Philippines on 26 October, she took up Magic Carpet. Homebound troops, 2,077 of them, boarded at Tacloban on Leyte, and the 30 October sailing ended at San Francisco on 17 November.
A further Far East passage opened on 2 December and closed on 9 January 1946. It put 935 replacement troops into Manila and brought 2,058 veterans back to the West Coast. The East Coast sailing was 11 February, and Norfolk came on 3 March. Portsmouth, Virginia, was the decommissioning port on 19 April. Maritime Commission custody began on 23 April, and on 1 May her name left the Naval Register. The James River Maritime Defense Reserve Fleet was where she went. One battle star was credited for the war.