On 4 June, however, while in the vicinity of the Azores, Abnaki received orders to rendezvous with Captain Daniel V. Gallery's Task Group (TG) 22.3 built around USS Guadalcanal.

The tug spent the early days of July in New York and stood out to sea on the 11th, towing two covered lighters, YF-445 and YF-447,[3] in an Oran-bound convoy.

After a stop at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the fleet tug entered the lagoon at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 25 July and discharged her tow.

Following a stop at Okinawa en route, she arrived at Shanghai on 16 July and began operations between that port and Tsingtao in support of American forces in China.

After February 1947, the Commander, Service Force, Pacific Fleet, expanded her sphere of operations to include ports in Japan and in China.

The tug continued to operate in Far Eastern waters while the communist tide swept over the Asian mainland engulfing not only China but also the northern half of Korea where the Soviet occupation forces had established a puppet regime under Kim Il Sung on 1 May 1948.

In July 1951, however, she joined Service Division (ServDiv) 31 in providing mobile logistics support to the United Nations naval task forces engaged in the conflict.

Abnaki's direct support for United Nations forces in Korea ended in February 1952, and she resumed service in Western and Central Pacific waters somewhat removed from the designated combat zone.

Save for an overhaul or two at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, her service in the Far East and in the waters of the Central Pacific continued unbroken until 1955.

After participating in evacuation of Nationalist Chinese troops and civilians from the Tachen Islands in March of that year, the tug served in the Orient for a little over three months more.

Her itinerary changed late in February 1957 when she steamed to San Francisco, to take USS Springfield in tow for the first leg of her journey to the east coast for her conversion to a guided missile cruiser.

Following a leave, upkeep, and repair period, she once again began mid-Pacific duties early in September and continued the task through the year's end.

Following a three-month overhaul, three weeks of refresher training, and almost two months of local operations, Abnaki departed Pearl Harbor on 29 March 1966 for the western Pacific.

She anchored off Vung Tau on Navy Day 1966, transferred her charge, and then got underway on 28 October to return home via Sasebo and Yokosuka.

During the first three weeks in May, the fleet tug made a round-trip voyage to Seattle, Wash. After returning, Abnaki carried out mid-Pacific towing duties until mid-August.

The voyage west brought stops at Guam and Subic Bay – where Abnaki delivered floating crane YD-127 – before she reentered the combat zone off Vietnam.

The ship arrived there on the 3rd, departed the next morning with her charge in tow, and delivered it at Da Nang on the 8th before heading back toward Subic Bay that same day.

Late in January of that year, Abnaki headed for the western Pacific and arrived in Subic Bay toward the end of the second week in February.

Later in the month, she voyaged to Vung Tau, South Vietnam, apparently to deliver a tow, because she departed the Vietnamese port on the same day she arrived.

She spent a large proportion of her time in and around Subic Bay and made port visits to Hong Kong; Singapore; and Ream, Cambodia.

Following the grounding of the USS Regulus on Kau I Chau Island, Hong Kong, on the night of 16–17 August 1971 during Typhoon Rose, Abnaki was the first U.S. Navy vessel to arrive on scene to begin salvage operations.

After an eight-day layover at Apra Harbor, she continued her voyage to the Oahu base where she arrived on 20 October to resume Hawaiian operations.

That duty involved staying in Da Nang harbor during the day to provide salvage services and putting to sea each night because of the threat posed by Viet Cong sapper-swimmers.

Renewed operations out of Pearl Harbor lasted until 25 June 1973 when she got underway for a new home port – San Diego, California.

The ship stood into her new base on 13 July and spent the remainder of the year either in port at San Diego or making tows to various points along the California coast.

After participation in Operation Frequent Wind – the evacuation of Saigon – Abnaki returned to Yokosuka on 15 May for three weeks of upkeep before heading for the Marianas on 8 June.

Operations along the California coast kept the tug busy until the beginning of October when she began an extended restricted availability at San Diego.

En route, she stopped at Kapingamarangi Atoll to drop off cargo for the natives and at West Fayu Island to investigate a suspected violation of territorial waters by a Japanese fishing trawler.

At the crown colony from 29 November to 9 December, she combined business with pleasure, serving as station submarine service ship while portions of her crew enjoyed liberty ashore.

On 29 December, she headed for Kwajalein to embark Rear Admiral Carroll, Commander, Naval Forces, Marianas, for transportation to Kusaie Atoll for its independence celebration.