She was laid down as PC-1149 on 6 November 1943 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan; launched on 11 January 1944; and commissioned on 22 June 1944.

She sailed, via the Mississippi River and New Orleans, Louisiana, to the Gulf of Mexico and conducted shakedown training out of Miami, Florida.

After stopping at San Diego, California, and at Pearl Harbor, she arrived at Eniwetok in the Central Pacific on 28 July; then sailed the following day for the Marianas.

In November 1946, she returned, via Kwajalein and Pearl Harbor, to the United States, arriving at the Columbia River Reserve Fleet berthing area in Oregon in mid-December.

Sixteen months later, on 16 July 1957, Susanville was transferred, on loan, to the Nationalist Chinese Navy and was commissioned as Hsi Kiang.