Her official commissioning ceremony took place on 14 August 1943 with CDR Joseph J. Rochefort in command.

The two side walls were folded down under tow to reduce wind resistance and lower the center of gravity.

On 2 December 1944 the USS Claxton (DD-571) a Fletcher-class destroyer entered ABSD-2 for repair of after a kamikaze attack that damaged her off Leyte on 1 November 1944.

ABSD-2 repaired the USS Canberra (CA-70) a Baltimore-class cruiser after an attack on 13 October 1944 from an aerial torpedo.

ABSD-2 repaired USS Killen (DD-593) also a Fletcher class destroyer with kamikaze damage from an attack off Leyte on 1 November 1944.

Due to the Iowa 37 ft 2 in (11.33 m) draft when full loaded, the battleships had to unload much of her ammunition and fuel oil before entering AFDB-2.

[11] Near the end of the war, on April 22, 1945 at 2pm, a Mitsubishi A6M Zero two seater plane piloted by Shimbo, with Ensign Chuhei Okubo in the second seat, overflew Seeadler Harbor at 14,000 feet (4,300 m).