After shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay, she loaded cargo, provisions, and stores at Norfolk and embarked passengers for a voyage to the South Pacific.

After a stop at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, she transited the Panama Canal on 19 May and headed independently toward Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides islands.

The ship disembarked passengers immediately but remained at Espiritu Santo for three weeks, during which time American forces invaded the Mariana Islands.

On 2 July, Zaurak departed Espiritu Santo to steam via Nouméa, New Caledonia, to Eniwetok and thence to join in the Marianas campaign.

On 9 August, she embarked 812 battle-weary officers and men of the Army's 27th Infantry Division and, two days later, departed the Marianas bound, via Eniwetok, for Espiritu Santo.

On 23 October, she departed Bougainville in the Solomons with a convoy of 31 ships bound for the Philippines with reinforcements and supplies for the forces that had just invaded Leyte.

On 1 and 2 November, she fired her first shots at enemy planes attacking the airstrip ashore but, due to darkness and extreme range, scored no hits.

The following day, Zaurak embarked passengers and departed Leyte Gulf in a convoy of 20 ships, bound for Hollandia, New Guinea.

She delivered elements of the 147th Infantry to Iwo Jima on 29 March and remained there for a week, embarking units of the 3rd Marine Division on the 27th.

She was transferred to the Maritime Commission that same day for layup at Suisun Bay, California, with the National Defense Reserve Fleet.