The second USS Cahokia (ATA-186) was laid down as ATR-113, reclassified ATA-186 on 15 May 1944, and launched 18 September 1944 by Levingston Shipbuilding Co., Orange, Texas; and commissioned 24 November 1944.

Cahokia sailed from Galveston, Texas, 23 December 1944, for the Panama Canal Zone, San Francisco, and then for Pearl Harbor 4 March 1945, and assumed towing duty between Ulithi, Manus, Leyte, the Russell Islands, and Okinawa, until 8 September when she arrived in Tokyo Bay.

After almost a month in Pearl, she sailed for San Francisco, arriving 15 July for duty with the 12th Naval District.

In January 1951, she assisted in the sinking of USS Independence (CVL-22) in an experimental underwater explosion test off San Francisco.

Between 16 and 18 June 1954, she delivered water to Alcatraz Penitentiary when the prison's water system failed, and on 1 April 1955, she assisted in quelling a serious fire in San Francisco's Ferry Building.