Her keel was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (T. B7 D1, MC hull 1335) on 24 November 1943 at South San Francisco, California, by the Belair Shipyard of Barrett and Hilp.

Towed by Iroquois (AT-46), Barite departed San Francisco on 25 September 1944 and entered Pearl Harbor on the morning of 2 October.

Thence, under tow by the auxiliary ocean tug ATA-124, with Vaga (YTB-374) as "retriever" and YMS-276 as escort, Barite reached Ulithi, in the Caroline Islands, on 13 January 1945 and joined the armada of 225 ships present at that advanced base.

Barite served at Ulithi as a floating lubricating oil facility into the spring of 1945, when the advent of the typhoon season made it imperative to shift Service Squadron (ServRon) 10's base to locales other than the Western Caroline Islands.

Subsequently sold to the China-based Asia Development Corporation, the ship was delivered to her purchaser on 23 April 1948.