Lindenwald was authorized as a Mechanized Artillery Transport, APM-6; reclassified LSD-6 on 1 July 1942; laid down 22 February 1943 by Moore Dry Dock Co., Oakland, California; launched on 11 June 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Wilbur M. Lockhart and commissioned on 9 December 1943.

Following 18 days of intensive training, Lindenwald sortied from Pearl Harbor with the Southern Transport Group for the invasion of the Marshall Islands on 22 January 1944 with 18 tank-carrying LCMs stowed in her well deck.

During March she made two runs from Guadalcanal carrying boats and marines for the daring invasion of Emirau Island, just 150 miles north of the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul.

Lindenwald departed for San Francisco 22 June and arrived 11 July, touching Pearl Harbor en route to unload boats and marine casualties.

Departing the West Coast only 10 days after arrival, Lindenwald loaded boats at Pearl Harbor and steamed for the Admiralties to make final preparations for the invasion of Leyte.

The next day, she quickly unloaded boats and got underway for Hollandia, New Guinea, to carry General MacArthur's rear echelon to the new headquarters at Leyte.

Arriving 12 March, she reported to Task Force 51 (TF 51) under Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner and began preparations for the upcoming Okinawa campaign.

She remained off Okinawa for 92 days, docking, repairing, and servicing landing craft damaged by enemy gunfire or the heavy surf.

After a 2-month overhaul, she made a fast run to Pearl Harbor, then sailed via the Panama Canal for Galveston, Texas, and transport duty in the Gulf of Mexico.

Lindenwald recommissioned 18 February 1949 and operated off the West Coast until 26 November, then steamed to Norfolk for amphibious duty, arriving 13 December.

She arrived at Algiers on 23 September, departed a week later for Crete, and spent October conducting amphibious exercises with the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Aegean Sea.

During the following three years, Lindenwald made another European voyage and spent each summer operating in the icy waters off Greenland with the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS).

As civil disorder rocked the Dominican Republic in May 1965, Lindenwald steamed to Santo Domingo with peacekeeping forces for Operation Power Pack to help stabilize the island and make possible the establishment of a viable government.

During this deployment Lindenwald served as transport for the return of the deep submergence vehicles Alvin and Aluminaut to the United States after they successfully searched for a nuclear bomb lost in a B-52 bomber crash off of Palomares, Spain.