Mormacyork was a type C3 ship laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 43) on 18 July 1940 at Kearny, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company.

Launched on 16 November 1940; sponsored by Mrs. William T. Moore, she was owned and operated by Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc., and ran voyages from the east coast of the United States to South American and Mediterranean ports.

On 22 September, she proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, to load cargo and ammunition and then held shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay.

On 23 October, she left the east coast to rendezvous with Task Group (TG) 34.8, which had been formed to invade French Morocco in Operation Torch.

Anne Arundel arrived in the transport area off the Moroccan coast on 8 November and began discharging Army troops and supplies.

Instead of returning home from the last eastward transatlantic crossing which ended at Oran on 22 June, Anne Arundel got underway on 5 July to take part in Operation Husky – the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Anne Arundel got underway again in early October and touched at Belfast, Northern Ireland, on the 17th before proceeding on to Gourock, Scotland, to discharge cargo.

In mid-April, Anne Arundel arrived at Plymouth to begin rehearsals for the upcoming invasion of the European continent at Normandy.

On 5 June 1944, the ship left Portland with Task Force 124 and headed for the transport area off Omaha Beach in northern France as part of Operation Neptune.

On 15 August, Anne Arundel arrived in the Baie de Pampelonne off the coast of Provence in France and began discharging troops ashore that same day.

She returned to the French coast on 30 August and moored in the Baie de Cavalaire to unload vehicles and troops to reinforce Allied positions.

Anne Arundel touched back at New York City on 8 November and entered a shipyard for repair work before resuming cargo loading operations.

The transport transited the Panama Canal on Christmas Day; joined the Pacific Fleet; and continued on to San Francisco, California, where she embarked several hundred marines.

She left Hawaii on 7 April with troops for the Ryukyu campaign embarked; made stops en route at Eniwetok and Ulithi before arriving in the transport area off Hagushi beach on Okinawa on 3 May.

After a period of upkeep, Anne Arundel began taking on equipment and supplies for transportation to forward areas in the Pacific.

Anne Arundel reached Hai Phong on 2 November and began embarking elements of the Chinese 52nd Army and their equipment for transportation back to China.