The third Reindeer (ATA-189), originally projected as ATR-116, was laid down by the Levingston Shipbuilding Co., Orange, Texas, 18 September 1944; launched 19 October 1944; and commissioned 20 December 1944.

Following shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico, Reindeer transited the Panama Canal, 30 January 1945, and arrived at Pearl Harbor 11 March.

Operating out of San Diego and San Pedro from July through September, she transited the Panama Canal in October, reached Norfolk 2 November, then steamed to Orange, Tex., arriving 19 November.

She was employed by the 19th Fleet for the next year and a half on towing assignments along the Gulf Coast from Galveston, Texas, to Mayport, Florida., and up to Charleston (in February 1947).

A unit of the "mothball" fleet, she was berthed at Orange until moved to Galveston, 21 November 1948, and finally to Green Cove Springs, Florida, 25 June 1958.