My Grandad put in a brief stint of Navy service in one of those. He signed up for the Navy, and was shipped out the day Japan surrendered. They were heading out to the Pacific to repair disabled ships enough that they could get back to a home port. Their ship was a converted LST, and was bristling with extra generators, DC welders, etc. Honestly, from some of his descriptions, it sounded like more of a party than a military mission. They'd go swimming out the large door on the end, and a guy would be stationed on top with a rifle to warn of sharks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pentheus_(ARL-20)