Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina each have a county of that name. The keel was laid on 22 April 1944 at Vancouver, Washington, by Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., under a Maritime Commission contract as MCV hull 658. Mrs. Howard Denhart sponsored the launch on 21 July 1944. Delivery to the Navy and commissioning of the Haskell attack transport fell on 18 September 1944, Commander John V. McElduff in command.
Shakedown led to a westward run and amphibious practice in Hawaiian waters. Elements of the 4th Marine Division were already aboard when, on 27 January 1945, she pointed for the far Pacific as a unit of TransDiv 45. The morning of 19 February found her at Iwo Jima. Cold and a high sea did not keep her off the assault beach from 0730 to 1800 while troops and gear went in. She drew off at night and came back each day to finish the cargo and to take casualties aboard. The 28th was the departure for Saipan and then Guam, where those wounded passengers left the ship.
Rehearsal for operation Iceberg filled the next month, Marines of the 2d Division being embarked. She left the Marianas on 27 March. Diversionary landings on the southeastern coast of Okinawa were her part on 1 April. After a kamikaze hit Hinsdale (APA-120), she took up the duties of division commander for TransDiv 44 and rescued survivors from that ship, from LST-884, and from LST-784. The feint was repeated on the 2nd. A stand-by area held her until the 9th. She then went back to Saipan, and on the 14th the troops debarked.
Noumea was the 4 June destination. Cargo from there went back to the Marianas, and she afterward shaped for California and an availability. San Francisco on 3 August was the arrival, and the yard period ran on past the close of the war. Late in the month she joined others of her type, taking troops out for occupation duty and bringing veterans back. Magic Carpet finished at San Francisco on 7 January 1946. Inactivation on the east coast followed.
Decommissioning at Norfolk was 12 April 1946. Redelivery to the Maritime Commission followed on 18 April. Removal from the Navy List was dated 1 May. The James River berthing area of the National Defense Reserve Fleet still held her as late as 1970. World War II brought her two battle stars.