Following outfitting and shakedown, Trutta underwent 30 days of intensive training in the Portsmouth-New London area and then set a course southward and steamed via the Canal Zone to arrive at Pearl Harbor on 25 February 1945.

The following day, as she was leaving Tanapag Harbor on her first war patrol, the submarine struck a cable connected to an oil drum adrift in the charted channel and was forced to return to Saipan to repair her damaged propeller blades.

Off the China coast on 22 April, Trutta narrowly escaped damage when an enemy float plane dropped two bombs which exploded over the diving submarine.

Shortly after midnight three days later, as Trutta patrolled west of Quelpart Island, lookouts on the submarine's bridge were startled to see a torpedo pass astern.

The next morning, finding her adversary of the night before replaced by two "Settles," the submarine, low on air and battery power, sent a message indicating that she would have to surface and fight it out if the situation did not improve before noon.

As air raids against the cities of the Japanese homeland intensified, Trutta manned a lifeguard station south of Kyushu, made patrols just off Bungo Suido, and conducted visual and photo reconnaissance of Tori Shima, approaching to within about one mile (1.6 km) of the island.

On 21 June, she departed Bungo Suido to join a coordinated attack group (wolfpack) "Street's Sweepers" patrolling the Yellow and East China Seas.

Working quickly to take advantage of surprise and to prevent the ships from fleeing to nearby shallow water, Trutta sank seven of the three- and four-masted schooners in a four-hour action.

Before Trutta arrived in her assigned area, she received official word that peace negotiations had obviated continuing her patrol; the submarine set a northeast course.

After calls at New Orleans and other gulf and east-coast ports, she arrived at New London early in January 1946 and reported to the Sixth Fleet for inactivation.

Still homeported at Key West, she continued her duties through the 1960s, breaking routine with goodwill visits to American and Mediterranean ports, and earning a number of Battle Efficiency "E's."