From mid-1942 to mid-1944, she patrolled the western coast of South America between the Canal Zone and the Strait of Magellan. During one of these sweeps, in September 1943, despite a radar contact which lasted for 15 minutes, she missed the German raider "Michel", which later intercepted and sunk the Norwegian tanker "India" with all hands. On 18 July 1944, "Trenton" headed north for duty in waters surrounding the Aleutians. After stopping for a time at San Francisco, she arrived at Adak, Alaska, on 2 September. A month later, she shifted bases to Attu. In October, "Trenton" joined and nine destroyers in two sweeps of the northern Kuril Islands — the first from 16–19 October, and the second from 22–29 October — as a diversion during the invasion of Leyte. She returned to the Kurils again on 3 January 1945, to bombard enemy installations on Paramushiru Island, then resumed Alaskan patrols. For the remainder of the war, "Trenton" patrolled the waters off Alaska and the Aleutian Islands and made periodic sweeps of the Kuril Islands. On 18 February, she returned to Paramushiru to pound shore installations. A month later, she bombarded Matsuwa. On 10 June, the light cruiser shelled Matsuwa once more and made an anti-shipping sweep before conducting another bombardment during the evening hours of 11 June. From 23–25 June, "Trenton", conducted her last offensive operation of the war, an anti-shipping sweep of the central Kuriles. Task Force 94 (TF 94) split into two units. "Trenton" encountered no enemy shipping, but the other unit sank five ships of a small convoy. Not long after that operation, the light cruiser steamed south for yard work. She reached San Francisco on 1 August, and the end of the war found her at Mare Island Navy Yard awaiting inactivation overhaul. Early in November, she headed south to Panama. "Trenton" transited the canal on 18 November, arrived at Philadelphia a week later, and was placed out of commission there on 20 December. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 21 January 1946. On 29 December, she was delivered to her purchaser, the Patapsco Scrap Co. of Bethlehem, Pa., for scrapping. "Trenton" earned one battle star for World War II.