[11] The unnamed medium landing ship (rocket) LSMR-536 was laid down on 9 June 1945 at Houston, Texas, by the Brown Shipbuilding Company; launched on 14 July 1945; and commissioned on 28 November 1945.

[12] On 12 May 1952, LSMR-536 departed San Diego in company with USS St. Joseph's River and three large landing support ships, and the formation steamed by way of Pearl Harbor and Midway, reaching Yokosuka, Japan, on 19 June.

Though the ship returned to the Korean coast periodically during her second tour of duty with the 7th Fleet, combat operations played no part in her activities, because hostilities had been effectively ended by the armistice of 19 July 1953.

White River was moved from San Diego to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in June 1965 where she underwent extensive modifications before her recommissioning there alongside sister ship USS Carronade on 2 October 1965.

She continued to support that unit intermittently for the next two months, interrupting this duty only to provide gunfire and rockets for three other operations: Oakland; Deckhouse III, an amphibious landing; and Franklin.

[5] After another stop at Subic Bay for emergency repairs after being caught in three storms while en route to the Philippines, White River returned to the Vietnamese coast at the end of September 1966 to continue gunfire support for the troops ashore.

On 30 November, she terminated her second tour of duty in Vietnamese waters and headed, via Okinawa, to Yokosuka where she spent the remainder of the year in upkeep due to persistent maintenance issues.

Again, she stopped at Subic Bay, first to load ammunition and then to complete some maintenance work in preparation for a year in which she would conduct operations across the entire length of South Vietnam.

Also during that period, White River escorted convoys of trucks near the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Vietnam.

White River returned to the Vietnamese coast on 13 March and resumed shore bombardment duties in support of Operation Beacon Hill, a combined helicopter, and waterborne, amphibious assault conducted near Dong Ha.

It lasted until 27 December and consisted almost entirely of gunfire support for forces operating in the II Corps tactical zone, during which White River fired its 50,000th rocket.

[16] During 1968, White River continued to operate out of her home port, Yokosuka, and made four deployments to Vietnam waters to render gunfire support for U.S. and ARVN troops.

Subsequently returning to the gun line, White River, with an assist from an airborne spotter on 15 July pounded a suspected VC storage area, a series of caves about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Qui Nhon Bay, with over 1,000 spin-stabilized projectiles, igniting more than 47 secondary explosions and nearly a dozen fires.

"Still not content to rest on her laurels," a Pacific Fleet chronicler wrote later, "White River directed her 5-inch spin-stabilized rockets at enemy positions in the same area on the 29th and silenced an antiaircraft site," killing or wounding 11 VC.

Air Force fixed-wing strikes destroyed some 30 bunkers and 200 meters of trench line; White River joined in the fray, unleashing a bombardment of the enemy positions "but with unknown results.

[10] In June 1969 White River was assigned to the naval gunfire support units for only four days, but she "displayed accurate marksmanship during one day of particularly impressive shooting..." On 16 June 1969, while operating in support of the ARVN 2nd Division 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Quang Ngai, she bombarded a VC assembly area, flushing out a squad of VC who soon began setting up weapons to return fire.

White River observed a 20 feet (6.1 m) surface burst some 2,000 yards (1,800 m) off the bow, and numerous rounds of light weapons fire that all missed their mark.

With the coaching of an airborne spotter, it directed a ten-minute barrage of .30- and .50-caliber machine gun, 40 millimeter autocannon, and rocket fire onto the VC, who broke and took cover leaving behind 11 of their number dead behind.

[10] White River supported the 1st Australian Task Force in Phuoc Tuy Province, in the III Corps zone, during the period 22–27 October 1969, unleashing a barrage of 5-inch spin-stabilized rockets on 28 enemy targets.

"Along with deleteriously affecting enemy morale," one observer wrote, the inshore fire support ship killed 15 VC troops, wounded 17, and destroyed four caves, 41 bunkers, and 46 structures.

Over a five-hour period on that day, White River expended 2,526 spin-stabilized projectiles in the "deepest penetration inland of an NGFS [naval gunfire support ship] to date."

Although the thick foliage canopy did not permit ready damage assessment, observers noted ten secondary fires burning upon the conclusion of the ship's bombardment.