The new attack cargo ship departed Boston on 9 July; conducted shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay; and got underway on 29 July, bound for the Canal Zone. She transited the Panama Canal on 5 August and steamed westward, conducting gunnery exercises en route. During her passage to Oahu, hostilities ended in the Pacific. On the 18th, "Valeria" moored at Pearl Harbor.