USS Admiral W. S. Benson (AP-120) began as an unnamed transport, AP-120, that was laid down on 10 December 1942 at Alameda, California by the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipbuilding Corp., under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 678).

Stopping briefly at Melbourne, Australia, en route, for provisions from 16 to 18 December, the transport continued on her destination, spending Christmas at sea.

Debarking some of her troop passengers—127 Australians and New Zealanders—upon her arrival at Melbourne on 16 January, the transport embarked 352 additional passengers on the 19th, and sailed for the United States, ultimately reaching Los Angeles on 2 February 1945.

Given a yard overhaul upon her return, Admiral W. S. Benson completed embarkation of 4,792 troops and passengers at San Pedro on 26 February; she sailed for Bombay the following morning.

Diverted to Brisbane, Australia, en route, Admiral W. S. Benson reached that port on 14 April and debarked 85 passengers.

Transiting the isthmian waterway between 23 and 25 May, the ship was then rerouted to the French port of Le Havre, where she arrived on 3 June 1945.

Standing out of Le Havre at 0800 on 5 June, Admiral W. S. Benson anchored off Staten Island on the evening of the 11th, and then stood up the North River early the following morning.

Transiting the Panama Canal on 2 July, Admiral W. S. Benson stopped briefly at Balboa before getting underway for the western Pacific on the following morning.

Fueling at Ulithi, the transport sailed for the Philippines, accompanied by the destroyer USS Robinson, ultimately releasing her escort off Homonhon Island.

Reaching Ulithi on 3 September, the transport embarked 100 Navy enlisted passengers and got underway the same evening, ultimately arriving at San Francisco on the morning of the 14th.

Two days later, the situation ashore having apparently been improved to permit it, the transport began disembarking her passengers, debarking 30 officers and 613 enlisted men from Navy construction battalion (CB) units.

As on her previous voyages to Le Havre and Marseilles, Admiral W. S. Benson sailed without passengers, bound for Okinawa on 14 December 1945.

Completing embarkation of 4,840 Army officers and enlisted men, including 75 patients, by noon on 8 January, Admiral W. S. Benson got underway for Seattle, taking a modified "great circle route" to avoid storms in the vicinity.

Decommissioned on 3 June 1946, and turned over to the Maritime Commission for disposal, Admiral W. S. Benson was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 3 July 1946.

After operating with the Army Transport Service as USAT General Daniel I. Sultan, the ship was reacquired by the Navy on 1 March 1950 and reinstated on the Naval Vessel Register on the same day.

On one voyage, from Hungnam to Pusan, from 12 to 15 December, General Daniel I. Sultan carried, among her embarked troops, a Navy corpsman, Hospitalman Richard De Wert, attached to the 1st Marine Division.

While en route from San Francisco to Japan with 1,100 Army troops on board, General Daniel I. Sultan arrived at Apra Harbor on 13 November 1962, in the wake of Typhoon Karen.

General Daniel I. Sultan provided tools, lights, and batteries to the Naval Hospital, and spare parts and equipment to the communication station.

On 14 January 1966, she suffered extensive hull damage and a ruptured fuel tank when she ran aground in shoal water west of Okinawa.