After shakedown, Lacerta cleared Norfolk 18 January 1945 for Pearl Harbor where she loaded hospital crew and cargo for the Solomon Islands.

In the months prior to Japan's surrender, she ferried cargo among the Solomon and Mariana Islands before arriving Manila 22 August.

Loading troops and equipment there, Lacerta participated in the movement of occupation forces to Japan, arriving Yokohama 13 September.

She then went to Hai Phong (French Indochina) took on 6,000 Chinese Nationalist troops (1,000 each in six ships) carrying them to Qinhuangdao at the northern tip of the Yellow Sea, remaining in the Far Fast until 19 November when she cleared Tsingtao, China, for Seattle.

She was returned to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 30 June 1946, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group.