Built to transport assault troops to hostile shores, "Lenawee" picked up her complement of landing craft at San Francisco and departed 26 November 1944 for the Pacific theater. Following amphibious training in the Hawaiian Islands, she sailed 27 January 1945 for Saipan. In the Marianas the final rehearsals for her entrance into the battle zone were held, and 1,503 troops of the 5th Marines and the 62nd Naval Construction Battalion embarked. After a 3-day voyage, she arrived at Iwo Jima on D-Day, 19 February; her boats helped place the first wave of Marines ashore before debarking her own troops 3 days later. Withdrawn on the 27th, she retired to Guam to discharge Marine casualties and prepare for the final large-scale amphibious operation of World War II.