USS LST-613 originally was a United States Navy LST-542-class tank landing ship built during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1946, and again in the late 1952.

[1][2] During World War II, LST-613 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign and participated in Morotai landings, the invasion of Indonesia on 15 September 1944.

At the close of World War II, LST-613 remained in active service in Amphibious Force, United States Navy on the Far East.

LST-613 was decommissioned on 6 January 1946, assigned for Commander Naval Forces Far East (COMNAVFE) Shipping Control Authority for Japan (SCAJAP) and redesignated as Q038.

[2] Persistence, along with four other ex-US Navy LSTs sold to Singapore by the US at around the same period of time, served as part of the RSN's 191 Squadron of the 3rd Flotilla, with its main roles being transporting Singapore Army troops and personnel to training facilities abroad (in foreign countries such as Taiwan), rescue-and-aid operations, supply missions as well as for officer-cadet training programmes conducted overseas.