A Texas county supplied the name of Rockwall (APA-230). Kaiser Shipbuilding at Vancouver, Washington, laid the keel for the Maritime Commission on 9 September 1944. The launch came on 5 November 1944. The Navy took her on loan charter on 14 January 1945 and commissioned her that same day at Astoria, Oregon, Captain Charles W. Roland in command.
Shakedown was off the California coast. Saipan was next. On 12 April a rocket detachment of Marines went ashore there, and a regiment of naval construction men went with them. Other attack transports joined her for drills off Lanai and Maui from 1 to 5 May. She surveyed Palahinu Beach on Lanai, then made Pearl Harbor on 7 May. Marines were aboard when she sailed on 24 May, and she landed them at Okinawa on 10 June. Ulithi was the next day's destination. At Guam on 18 June the Marines' 5th Military Police Battalion came aboard for a lift onward to Iwo Jima. She turned toward home on 29 June carrying officers and enlisted passengers who had been on Iwo Jima. Tinian added more troops on 4 July. San Francisco was the arrival on 24 July.
Army replacements went to Manila on 9 September. At Leyte Gulf on 13 September she loaded stores and took Army troops aboard. On 18 September she sailed with Appalachian (AGC-1), flagship of the amphibious force, and a group of twenty-four attack transports and attack cargo ships. Honshu was reached on 25 September and unloading began. She left on 29 September for Shanghai. Woodson (DE-359) met her as escort on 4 October, and Shanghai was the arrival on 6 October. On 11 October she embarked 1,728 passengers and reached Seattle on 26 October. Two further voyages ran to the Philippines.
Bikini's atomic test occupied her in the spring of 1946. She then moved to the Atlantic amphibious force and trained in the Caribbean. Decommissioning came on 15 March 1947, and she entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. San Francisco brought her back on 3 March 1951. Four varied years followed. August 1952 saw 1,500 Army troops carried to Bremerhaven. The next spring she refreshed off Guantanamo Bay. Marines joined at Morehead City, North Carolina, in January 1954. Five months alongside the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean followed. Norfolk had her again on 27 May, then worked beaches off Virginia and Vieques. Reserve claimed her again on 4 June 1955. She left commission on 28 September of that year. The Navy struck her on 1 December 1958 and the Maritime Administration took the hull for a James River berth in Virginia. One battle star was credited for the war.