Following post-shakedown availability in the navy yard there, she put to sea on 11 December with Shea, bound for New York City and a rendezvous with Bennington.

The two destroyer minelayers departed New York with the aircraft carrier on 15 December and set a course for the Panama Canal.

The warship spent two periods in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard—once for the installation of VF radar equipment and again to have her main deck plating strengthened.

She finished out her tour of duty in the Hawaii area late in February with another plane guard mission with Bataan.

Adams sustained her first casualties when a projectile fired from the after five-inch mount exploded prematurely killing two sailors and injuring another 13.

The destroyer minelayer provided gunfire support and mine destruction services to the wooden-hulled minesweepers doing the actual sweeping.

She sustained damage in a collision with a salvage vessel that forced her into the anchorage at Kerama Retto for emergency repairs.

Adams departed Kerama Retto on 7 April, bound ultimately for the United States and permanent repairs.

She made stops at Guam and at Pearl Harbor before arriving at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 7 May.

After brief post-repair shakedown training and inspections, the destroyer minelayer stood out of San Diego on 17 July on her way back to Hawaii.

She arrived at Oahu on 23 July and spent the next 11 days in gunnery exercises—both antiaircraft and shore bombardment—in the Hawaiian operating area.

They escorted the attack transport to the Marianas and arrived at Guam on 15 August, the day hostilities ceased.

Four days later, she put to sea with a convoy bound for Shanghai, China, and entered the Yangtze River on 21 December.

Adams continued similar duty in Far Eastern waters until early April when she headed back to the United States.