She was laid down on 22 September 1942 at Kearny, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 199); launched on 22 December 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Janet Roper; reclassified an attack cargo ship and redesignated AKA-15 on 1 February 1943; delivered to the Navy on 30 March 1943; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 2 April 1943.

The attack cargo ship made her maiden voyage late in April from New York to Norfolk, Virginia, and then conducted shakedown training in Chesapeake Bay.

On 5 July, the attack cargo ship left Oran, Algeria, with Task Force (TF) 85 and set a course for the southern coast of Sicily.

Allied troops stormed ashore in the darkness of the early morning hours of the 10th, and Andromeda spent the next two days disgorging her cargo.

Returning to Oran, Andromeda spent the next few weeks at several locations on the North African coast preparing for another amphibious assault.

The attack cargo ship spent about six weeks practicing amphibious landings with American and Free French troops on the Algerian coast at Mers el Kebir, Oran, and Arzew.

Andromeda spent the first part of August in the Bay of Castellamare waiting for the beginning of Operation "Dragoon", the invasion of southern France.

For over two months, the ship went back and forth across the Mediterranean Sea carrying supplies and reinforcements from North Africa to the armies operating ashore in southern France.

The attack cargo ship left the Solomons on 15 March bound ultimately for the campaign about to unfold in the Ryukyu Islands.

She entered Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands on the 21st and bided her time until the 27th when her portion of the invasion force sortied from the lagoon.

The soldiers and marines carried out their landing that morning, and support ships like Andromeda began to disgorge supplies and equipment.

During the two months following Japan's surrender, Andromeda carried out two missions to the home islands and made a voyage to Manila in the Philippines.

After embarking servicemen at Sasebo, Japan, the attack cargo ship got underway for the United States on 6 November.

She made cargo runs between the west coast and American bases at such places as Pearl Harbor, Midway, Wake Island, Kwajalein, Guam, and Saipan.

Andromeda provided logistics support for United Nations forces fighting the Korean War until returning to San Diego at the end of the year.

After 10 months of duty on the west coast, the ship returned to the Orient and logistics support for the United Nations defense of South Korea.

She took up duty along the west coast in the spring of 1953, but interrupted it for a round-trip voyage to Yokosuka, Japan, in August and early September.

Andromeda deployed to the Far East in 1954 and participated in Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of refugees from North Vietnam in August and September.