She was renamed and commissioned after Alkaid, a star in the Big Dipper asterism or constellation Ursa Major.

[1][2][3][4] Following a period of shakedown training off the US East Coast, Alkaid sailed on 6 May 1944, for the Pacific Ocean, via Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Panama Canal.

Some of the ports she visited included Noumea, New Caledonia; Guadalcanal; Tulagi; Suva, Fiji; Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand; Efate, New Hebrides; Oro Bay, New Guinea; Iwo Jima; Guam; and Eniwetok.

After making calls at Eniwetok, Saipan, and Iwo Jima, Alkaid dropped anchor at Yokosuka, Japan, on 4 October.

[4] On 16 November, Alkaid left Japan with a load of homeward-bound American troops and reached Long Beach, California, on 9 December 1945.