After shakedown calls at San Francisco and Los Angeles, General S. D. Sturgis arrived Seattle 10 August 1944 to embark cargo, troops, and passengers before getting underway 8 days later.

General S. D. Sturgis carried part of Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet staff via Eniwetok to Pearl Harbor, finally reaching Seattle 19 February 1945.

On 26 August—by this time painted in camouflage measure 32, design 13T—the Sturgis sailed out of Manila with officers and officials of the United States, Australia, Canada, Netherlands East Indies, China, and the Philippines.

The ship reached Tokyo Bay on 31 August; and two days later, the men carried by the Sturgis would be among the few who would witness the Japanese surrender ceremonies aboard Missouri.

[5] In addition to its many trips to the U.S. with displaced persons, General S. D. Sturgis also delivered refugees to Australia, Argentina, Canada, Brazil and Venezuela as well.

[7] General S. D. Sturgis made a trip, with displaced persons, from Bremerhaven, Germany, at the end of December 1948, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, arriving there on 17 January 1949.

The ship was slated to carry 190 of its passengers on to New Orleans, but because of the inspection it was to undergo, transferred them to USNS General R. M. Blatchford to continue their journey.

Following the Armistice, the transport rotated Greek, Turkish, Ethiopian, and Philippine troops in Korea, helping to maintain the high state of readiness among U.N. forces in that volatile land.

General S. D. Sturgis was later returned to the Maritime Administration and was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, Texas, 22 August 1958, where she remained until 1967.