Originally laid down on 27 May 1944 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan, as a Rudderow-class destroyer escort, DE-715, Young was reclassified and redesignated as a Crosley-class high speed transport, APD-131 on 15 July 1944.

After commissioning, Young received training at the U.S. Army Signal Corps School at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and was then assigned to the Marine Barracks New River, North Carolina, into 1942.

Promoted to First Lieutenant on 6 June 1942 Young was communications officer of the 1st Marine Parachute Battalion, which took part in the initial landings of the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon Islands.

During the initial landings on Gavutu, Young singlehandedly assaulted a Japanese-held dugout commanding a portion of the dock on the island, which was a key objective.

She departed the east coast on 30 July for San Pedro, California; transited the Panama Canal on 3 August, and while en route up the Pacific coast of Mexico, received word of the atomic bomb detonation at Hiroshima on the 6th and, three days later, of a nuclear blast at Nagasaki, and of the Soviet Union's entry into the Pacific War the same day.

Arriving at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 22 August, she fueled and provisioned to capacity, loaded UDT explosives, and got underway on the afternoon of the 23rd for Japan.

Her group steamed via the Marshall Islands, arrived in Tokyo Bay on 4 September, and reported to Vice Admiral Theodore S. "Ping" Wilkinson, Commander, 3rd Amphibious Force.

Young got underway on that date for Aomori, on the northern end of Honshū, to conduct a reconnaissance and beach survey, and to clear any obstacles that might impede Army landings.

Upon arrival at Mutsu Kaiwan on the 22nd, Gantner proceeded to Ominato to pick up local Japanese officials to assist in the clearance program.

Anchoring at Ominato on the evening of 26 September, the ship obtained information concerning Japanese minefields still extant in Tsugaru Strait, and the next day, got underway for Niigata, on the west coast of Honshū.

Nevertheless, any landings should be conducted in calm weather or with a prevailing offshore wind due to the beach's exposed position on the Sea of Japan.

Young, and the ship got underway for Tokyo Bay, stopping at Hakodate, Hokkaidō, en route, to pick up an officer from UDT 22 who had served a tour of detached duty there.

Young was towed from her berth with the Stockton Reserve Group to her final duty station, the Naval Missile Center at Point Mugu, California.