USS Leedstown, an 8600-ton Windsor class attack transport, was built at Baltimore, Maryland. Originally intended to become the commercial freighter Exchequer, she was taken over for Navy purposes while still in the early stages of construction, designated AP-101 and renamed Wood in October 1942. In February 1943 she was reclassified as an attack transport, receiving the new hull number APA-56. Renamed Leedstown in mid-March 1943, about a month after launching, she was commissioned in mid-July.

Following shakedown and training operations in the Chesapeake Bay area, Leedstown went to the Pacific in December 1943. During late January and early February 1944 she participated in the assault on Kwajalein. Occupied with logistics missions between the Solomon Islands and the newly-captured Marshalls until May, she then began preparations for the Marianas campaign. In July Leedstown took part in the seizure of Guam. Her next amphibious operations were at Peleliu in September and Leyte a month later.

In January and February 1945 Leedstown put troops ashore during the invasions of Lingayen Gulf, on Leyte, and Iwo Jima. She engaged in training and logistics work for the rest of the Pacific War and, after Japan's surrender, made two voyages bringing veterans back to the West Coast from the former war zone. USS Leedstown was decommissioned in March 1946 and transferred to the Maritime Commission in July. Towed to Mobile, Alabama, late in 1946, she was converted to a freighter and soon began long commercial service, mainly under the name Exilona. The ship was sold for scrapping in April 1970.