Burias (AG-69) was laid down on 11 February 1944 at New Orleans, Louisiana, by the Delta Shipbuilding Company, Inc., under a U.S. Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 2458) as Mollie Moore Davis; launched on 27 March 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Paul L. Jahncke; delivered to the Navy on 24 April 1944; converted for naval service at Mobile, Alabama, by the Alabama Drydock Company; and commissioned there on 9 October 1944.

She completed the conversion within two months and, early in March, received orders to join that portion of Service Squadron (ServRon) 10 stationed at Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

There, she spent the remainder of World War II working in conjunction with Hector and Luzon making hull and electronic repairs to warships damaged at Iwo Jima and in the long Okinawa campaign.

The ship then moved to Seattle, Washington, on 23 January 1946 for the removal of her 20 millimeter antiaircraft guns and of some electronics equipment still on board.

On 15 August 1947, the ship was turned over to the U.S. Maritime Commission to be laid up with the National Defense Reserve Fleet group berthed at Suisun Bay, California.