Steaming to San Francisco 14 to 30 May, "Lanier" proceeded to Seattle 31 May. The civilian harbor pilot entered the harbor too fast, turned to avoid a collision with a passenger ferry and ran between a barge and its tug. The collision sunk the barge, injured a civilian and sustained damage to the bow and forward ballast tanks. She was put in dry dock for repairs until 2 June, embarked 1,442 troops, and departed 12 June for the Far East. She sailed via Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, and Ulithi and reached Okinawa 24 July. She operated off Okinawa until 6 August, then carried 798 passengers via Ulithi to Guam, where she arrived the 14th. She embarked over 1,300 occupation troops the following day and sailed as part of Task Force 31 for occupation landings on Japan. She anchored in Sagami Wan 27 August, and during midwatch 30 August entered Tokyo Bay to begin landing operations off Yokosuka. Her landing craft carried troops in the first wave and landed them at Yokosuka Airport at 0920. Steaming to Saipan 1 to 5 September, "Lanier" embarked marines of the 2d Division and carried them to Nagasaki, Kyūshū, 18 to 23 September.