La Salle, AP-102, was the lead ship of her class of transports. Moore Dry Dock at Oakland laid her down on 29 April 1942 as the Type C2 merchant ship Hotspur, Maritime Commission hull 284, and launched her on 2 August 1942, Mrs. Naomi S. Kehoe sponsoring. The Navy acquired her on 18 March 1943 and commissioned her as Hotspur on 31 March, Commander Fred C. Fluegel in command. She was renamed La Salle on 6 April 1943.
She carried Seabees and construction units to Guadalcanal and reached Wellington, New Zealand, on 27 October 1943. At Tarawa on 19 and 20 November she was shelled by shore batteries early on the second day without serious damage. She left the west coast on 13 January 1944 and reached Kwajalein eight days after sailing to land men of the 4th Marine Division. She left the atoll on 8 February.
She arrived at Saipan on D-Day, 15 June 1944, watched the bombardment and landed her Marines. She made a feint at Peleliu on 15 September, landed troops on Angaur on 17 September, and embarked 1,373 soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division at Manus for Leyte on 20 October. She unloaded 934 troops at Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945 and on 30 December 1944 helped shoot down an enemy plane. On 29 January 1945 she landed 731 troops on Luzon. She fought off suicide attacks off Okinawa from 11 to 16 April.
She made four Magic Carpet voyages between September 1945 and June 1946, and one passage in January to deliver occupation troops to Yokosuka. She was decommissioned at Seattle on 24 July 1946 and struck on 20 August 1946. NavSource lists her final disposition as wrecked and sold for scrap on 11 December 1968 to a Taiwan steel firm. She earned eight battle stars.