ARD-9 was commissioned at Alameda, California on 25 September 1943, towed to San Francisco Bay, and anchored near the Floating Drydock Training Center at Tiburon, California.

ARD-9 left the US on 12 December 1943 in a convoy of 5 ships: An AK ship, the Navy tug USS Yuma towing the USS ARD-10, and the Metamora, a Merchant Marine tug towing the ARD-9.

At sea, the ship headed SSW and crossed the equator at 151 degrees and 50 minutes.

As the convoy entered the Coral Sea it was given an escort by an Australian corvette.

This article about a specific ship or boat of the United States Armed Forces is a stub.