Buckingham (APA 141) was laid down on 9 September 1944 at Wilmington, Los Angeles, by the California Shipbuilding Corp. under a United States Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 57); launched on 13 November 1944; sponsored by Mrs. S. J. Dickey; towed to Vancouver, Washington, for completion by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Co.; transferred to the Navy on 23 January 1945; and commissioned that same day.

Buckingham then reported to the Commander, Western Sea Frontier, at San Francisco, California, for her first assignment, transportation of a cargo of ammunition and explosives to Pearl Harbor.

She waited at anchor there for nearly a week before putting to sea with a training group to practice fleet cruising, shiphandling, and amphibious landings at Maui.

The ship returned to Pearl Harbor on the 28th, took on cargo, and embarked Army and Marine Corps troops for transportation to the Mariana Islands.

When Buckingham departed the United States on 28 June, she began a voyage that took her—via Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, and Ulithi—to the Philippines and back to San Francisco, where she arrived on 17 August.

Placed in the Maritime Commission's National Defense Reserve Fleet at James River, Virginia, she remained there until January 1974 when she was sold to Consolidated Steel Corp., Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping.