Sea Lift completed her maiden voyage, Oakland to Honolulu in July 1967, then commenced runs to the Far East with cargo consigned to Vietnam.

Reassigned to the MARAD Ready Reserve Force (RRF) 30 October 1985 and berthed at Alameda, California, Meteor lost her USNS destination and became was one of 31 roll-on / roll-off cargo ships and one of the 55 ships in the RRF in the Sealift Office Program.

In August 1990, while berthed in San Pedro, Los Angeles she was activated to take part in the Gulf War and shuttled between the US East Coast via the Mediterranean to Saudi Arabia until the end of the hostilities.

[3] On 28 July 2006, she was removed from MSC and withdrawn from the RRF by reassignment to the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

[4] This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.