She was configured as a Navy transport and cargo ship and operated with the U.S. Pacific Fleet until 1951, when she was turned over to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

FS-256 was constructed as a Design 381 coastal freighter by Wheeler Shipbuilding, Whitestone NY for the U.S. Army as FS-256 in 1944 and delivered in 1945.

[1] FS-256 was a Coast Guard-staffed Army vessel until the end of World War II.

[2] FS-256 was acquired by the Navy at Apra Harbor, Guam, 16 July 1947; renamed Camano and commissioned the same day.

Camano began cargo and passenger duty out of Guam to the Caroline Islands.