Recommissioned on 18 November 1851, St. Lawrence sailed on 12 December for the Pacific. For the next three and one-half years, she cruised along the west coast of North and South America, from Cape Horn to Puget Sound, occasionally venturing as far west as the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. In 1853, she relieved as flagship of the Pacific Squadron and continued this duty until she relinquished her role as flagship to on 2 February 1855. She departed Valparaíso five days later and arrived at Hampton Roads on 21 April. She was decommissioned and placed in ordinary at Norfolk, Virginia exactly a month later.
