Merrick left Norfolk on 15 May 1945 for training at Pearl Harbor and duty transporting cargo, landing craft, and troops among the Marshalls and New Hebrides until the close of World War II.

She then carried occupation troops from the Hawaii and the Philippines to Japan and brought veterans, including Marine war dogs, back to Norfolk, arriving on 3 December.

She carried more than 6,400 prisoners from Koje-do and Cheju-do to Inchon, then trained Army and Marine Corps troops in amphibious exercises in the Philippines and at Iwo Jima.

Merrick was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 15 December 1969, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay Group, Benicia, California.

[citation needed] Merrick was struck from the Naval Register on 1 September 1976 and withdrawn from reserve on 19 December 1979 for trade-in and exchange to States Marine Lines (as the SS Santa Ana).