Telfair was laid down 30 May 1944, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCV hull 558, by Permanente Metals Corporation, Yard No.

[3] In mid-March, the attack transport embarked elements of the Army's 77th Division and sortied from San Pedro Bay with Task Group (TG) 51.1.

The third, his glide deflected by gunfire, crashed into Goodhue's cargo boom, smashed her after 20-millimeter gun tubs, and joined his compatriot in the sea.

[3] Telfair remained in the vicinity of Okinawa supporting the invasion until 26 April, when she got underway for Ulithi Atoll in the Western Carolines.

On 2 November, she arrived at Samar, in the Philippines, where she embarked her first load of veterans for the return voyage to the United States.

Telfair remained on the west coast until Christmas Eve when she weighed anchor to return to the western Pacific.

During the period of fighting in Korea, roughly June 1950 to July 1953, Telfair deployed to the western Pacific on three separate occasions.

[3] During the first, from October 1950 to July 1951, she visited Yokosuka, Kobe, and Sasebo in Japan and Inchon and Chinnampo in Korea, shuttling troops from the former three ports to the latter two.

In the intervening period, she saw no actual Korean service, but steamed between Okinawa, Kobe, Yokosuka, and Sasebo primarily engaged in training United Nations troops in amphibious operations.

[3] In August 1954, however, she did depart from her normal routine to participate in Operation "Passage to Freedom", in which Navy ships evacuated Vietnamese refugees from Haiphong, in the communist-controlled northern half of newly-partitioned Indochina, to Saigon, in the pro-western southern portion.

[3] Telfair's new seven-year lease on life took her to new oceans and new ports of call for, immediately following training off San Diego, she headed for duty with the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet.

She was also on hand in Greek waters in April 1967, as part of the back-up force protecting American lives and property during the takeover by the military junta in Athens.

When assigned to the 2d Fleet, Telfair operated from Norfolk and cruised the Atlantic seaboard, in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico.

She was normally engaged in amphibious exercises with Marines from Camp Lejeune, though she also conducted summer training cruises for midshipmen of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

[3] In October 1964, she participated in Operation Steel Pike the largest peacetime amphibious landing exercise in history.