Zelima was laid down on 5 December 1944 at Oakland, California, by the Moore Dry Dock Company under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1212) as Golden Rocket; launched on 2 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs. J. W. Greenslade; and delivered to the War Shipping Administration on 16 July 1945.

Turned over to the Navy in the summer of 1946, she was renamed Zelima; converted to a stores ship at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard; and commissioned on 27 July 1946.

With her home port at San Francisco, California, Zelima spent her first four years of active service carrying provisions and other supplies from the U.S. West Coast to Japan and other points in the Pacific occupied by American forces.

The eruption of hostilities in Korea during the summer of 1950 brought an increase in workload for all ships in the Pacific Fleet Service Force, and Zelima was no exception.

After the Gulf of Tonkin incident spurred an even more rapid acceleration in American involvement, Zelima's visits to Vietnamese waters became more regularized and frequent.