Tutuila was laid down 11 August 1943, as the liberty ship SS Arthur P. Gorman, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 1179, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Inc., in Baltimore, Maryland; launched 12 September 1943; transferred to the Navy when 80 percent complete for conversion to an internal combustion engine repair ship on 18 September; converted by the Maryland Drydock Co.; and commissioned there on 8 April 1944.

[3] Tutuila underwent shakedown in Hampton Roads from 20 April to 24 May, before sailing for the Panama Canal and proceeding via San Diego, Pearl Harbor, and Eniwetok to the South Pacific Theater.

[3] Early in August, the repair ship joined Service Squadron (ServRon) 10, based at Purvis Bay, in the once hotly contested Solomon Islands.

Iwo Jima and Okinawa fell to the telling power of American shells, bombs, and troops which stormed ashore supported by a great Allied armada.

One day out, a typhoon Helen lashed at the convoy, forcing the slower repair ship to remain with the "small boys" while Jason and Whitney received orders to run for Japan.

[3] Tutuila was laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in Texas, until the summer of 1950, when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea.

In October 1958, Tutuila again visited Havana, and then proceeded to Philadelphia, where she took part in a special project for reclaiming materiel from ships in reserve before returning to Norfolk.

In this tense climate, Navy destroyers and patrol planes formed a picket line, turning back Russian ships carrying missiles.

In March 1965, Tutuila participated in a program to reclaim materiel and special equipment installed on radar picket destroyers which were currently being decommissioned at Bayonne, NJ.

While performing repair and support duties during the months of April and May, the ship conducted a special series of operations geared toward supplying needed petroleum products to light and power facilities in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, after rebel gunfire had prevented normal tanker deliveries.

[3] For the remainder of the year 1965, she continued operations out of Norfolk following the Dominican intervention, calling at San Juan and Guantanamo Bay for refresher training after her annual Portsmouth overhaul.

During March and April 1966, Tutuila underwent extensive preparation for overseas deployment, as repair shops, berthing and messing spaces were air-conditioned, and new communications equipment was procured and installed.

After brief stops at Pearl Harbor and at Subic Bay in the Philippines, the repair ship arrived at An Thoi, Phu Quoc Island, in the Gulf of Siam, to support Operation Market Time off the coast of South Vietnam.

Landing Army of the Republic of Vietnam troops at four locations, Tutuila's boats also carried supplies and ammunition to the Allied ground forces while helicopters evacuated casualties to the repair ship for medical attention.

[3] The opening days of the new year, 1967, saw the repair ship taking up support duties for the Mobile Riverine Force established at Vung Tau for operations in the Mekong Delta.

Further, Tutuila's 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber guns spoke in anger for the first time in the Vietnam War, as the ship undertook a shore bombardment in the Rung Sat Special Zone, providing harassment and interdiction fire into an area of suspected Viet Cong activity north of Vung Tau.

[3] Returning to An Thoi in October 1967, Tutuila relieved Krishna and provided support for coastal divisions of Navy and Coast Guard before proceeding to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for five days of upkeep in late November.

Many times she had hoisted PCFs or other patrol craft onto pontoons alongside for complete overhauls; her crew had taught their Vietnamese counterparts the intricacies of diesel power plants and generators.

[3] Departing Subic Bay on 29 January 1972, Tutuila made port at Kaohsiung on 2 February, to the accompaniment of a Chinese military band which played tunes from the dockside.