Famous classmates of Doyle's included: President Jimmy Carter; former CIA Director Stansfield Turner; Admiral Worth H. Bagley; Admiral, later Ambassador, William Crowe, Ambassador to the Court of St James's and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Medal of Honor awardees, James Stockdale and Thomas Hudner; and US Senator Jeremiah Denton.

He was then posted to USS John W. Thomason, an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer based at San Diego, for three years, making two deployments to the Western Pacific.

In 1949, as the Chinese Communists moved across the Yangtze River and took control of the capital, Shanghai, the Thomason was involved uniquely as the communications relay for the American Ambassador.

The ship then evacuated the embassy staff, and steamed down the Yangtze River at general quarters, with star shells bursting overhead.

He was allowed three years at George Washington University law school (1950–53) that coincided with the Korean War, in which his father was Commander of the Amphibious Forces during the invasion of Inchon with General Douglas MacArthur aboard the flagship, and also participated in the Hungnam evacuation and the blockade of Wonsan.

Among his professors at GWU was Dean of the school, Vice Admiral Oswald S. Colclough, who had served as Judge Advocate General of the Navy 1945-48 and Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC) 1948–49.

In June 1954, Doyle became commanding officer of USS Ruff, a late World War II-constructed ship for sweeping fixed mines.

He relieved his predecessor at Panama City, Florida, and then sailed to Charleston, South Carolina, its home port, and spent a little under a year as CO. Ruff was going into maintenance, and Doyle was picked to proceed to Long Beach, California, and command USS Redstart for a two-year tour.

Doyle reported to the destroyer USS John R. Craig as Commanding Officer for the final stages of its Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul at the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard at San Francisco, California.

While on a port visit to Subic Bay (Philippines) in John R. Craig, Doyle was ordered to Washington for interviews with Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, head of Naval Reactors.

With no nuclear ship CO positions available, Doyle was ordered to be the executive officer of the cruiser USS Newport News based in Norfolk, Virginia.

Doyle then oversaw the first refuelling of Bainbridge (September 1967 – July 1968) at Mare Island and the following inspection by Nuclear Reactors staff and Vice Admiral Rickover.

For the 1970 deployment, Bainbridge again visited Australia, this time related to the bicentennial of Lieutenant James Cook's discovery landing on the east coast at Botany Bay on 29 April 1770.

Doyle was then selected as Commander, Third Fleet, based at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on promotion to vice admiral.

During this time, USS Ticonderoga, featuring the first AEGIS radar and fire control system, was authorized in the 1977 budget, in light of a lack of political will to fund nuclear powered cruisers and destroyers.

Doyle's tenure also saw the requirements settled for the multi-mission Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship, and Cimarron-class fleet replenishment oiler.

The Naval War College established the "Vice Admiral James H. Doyle, Jr., Military Operations and International Law Prizes."