Following shakedown training along the California coast, Butte embarked troops at San Diego, California, and, on 5 January 1945, got underway for the western Pacific. En route to the Philippines, Butte made stops of varying duration at Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, Saipan, Ulithi, and in the Palau Islands. She arrived at Leyte on 21 February and began five weeks of training in preparation for the amphibious assault on Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands. On 27 March, Butte set sail for Okinawa as a unit of Task Group (TG) 55.1 of the Southern Attack Force (Task Force (TF) 55) with elements of the Army's 7th Infantry Division embarked. She arrived off the objective early in the morning of 1 April — the day the assault was launched. During the next two weeks, Butte disembarked her troops and helped to r