Commissioned on February 15, 1952 in Hoboken, New Jersey, "Courier's" call sign was "Vagabond-Able". For twelve years during the 1950s and 1960s, she served as a portion of the Voice of America radio network during the Cold War, at a time when the Soviet Union had attempted to jam portions of the network. The "Courier" contained the most powerful communications radio transmitter ever installed on board a ship, an RCA BT-105 150-kilowatt mediumwave transmitter, as well as two Collins 207B1 type 35-kilowatt shortwave transmitters as well as a Collins Radio Company 51J-type receiver.