"Gustafson" departed Guantanamo Bay on 24 July 1945 and transited the Panama Canal the 27th on her way to San Diego, California. She sailed for Hawaii on 9 August to be refitted with more anti-aircraft guns for Pacific service and was on the high seas when hostilities ceased with Japan on 15 August 1945. Her base Pearl Harbor, she served as a weather patrol ship north of Hawaii for the remainder of the year, thence via San Diego for return to the Atlantic seaboard.