Though her unit was later administratively incorporated into the Fleet Base Force as Squadron 1, Antares continued to wear the flag of the officer who commanded the auxiliaries on the Atlantic coast.
Employed at East Coast ports and operating areas, ranging from the Southern Drill Grounds to the Caribbean, Antares, like other naval vessels, occasionally gathered oceanographic data in the course of her voyages; she re-plotted landmarks for range finder and compass calibration charts, furnishing the Hydrographic Office with data needed to complete the calibration chart of Culebra, Puerto Rico, during the fiscal year 1924.
Antares brought the planes of Utility Squadron 2 (VJ-2) back to Naval Air Station (NAS), Hampton Roads, following the winter maneuvers in 1925, and for the winter maneuvers of 1926, transported three assembled and one crated plane from VJ-2 to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, where they towed sleeve targets for the Scouting Fleet's cruisers.
On May 6, 1937, seven crew members from the USS Antares were dispatched to provide security at the Naval Air Station Lakehurst after the LZ 129 Hindenburg airship disaster.
The planned conversion of the ship to a general stores issue ship caused consternation at Headquarters, Marine Corps, General Thomas Holcomb pleading with the Chief of Naval Operations—Admiral William D. Leahy—to leave Antares in her current configuration, since she had proved so invaluable in the development of equipment and tactics in landing on a hostile shore.
Not sighting the tug at the appointed time, Antares altered course, turning slowly to the east, when her watch suddenly spotted a suspicious object about 1,500 yd (1,400 m) on the auxiliary's starboard quarter.
A PBY Catalina from Patrol Squadron 14 showed up almost simultaneously and dropped smoke floats in the vicinity; meanwhile, Ward went to general quarters and attacked, sinking the intruder.
While the report of this incident off the harbor entrance was making its way up the chain of command with glacial slowness, Antares spotted the tug Keosanqua at 07:15.
"As it was apparent that the continued presence of the Antares offshore was placing the ship and personnel in constant jeopardy," Grannis later reported, he requested permission to enter Honolulu.
She issued stores to fleet units at Noumea until 5 February 1943, when she sailed to the Fiji Islands and Auckland, New Zealand, ultimately returning to New Caledonia on 7 March.
During March 1943, Antares took part in the successful salvaging of Delphinus—which had run aground on Garanhua Reef, off New Caledonia, on the 17th of that month—before being sent to Samoa, and from there to San Francisco, California, where she arrived on 6 May 1943.
Ordered back to the United States, Antares reached San Francisco on 1 August and, after reloading supplies and undergoing voyage repairs, again sailed for the South Pacific on 10 September, arriving at her destination, Espiritu Santo, on 4 October.
Simultaneously, the stores issue ship's call for help was being answered; YMS-468 and the destroyer Sproston closed the scene of the battle to lend a hand.
At 14:14, Antares sighted what appeared to be a large submarine commencing to surface; her 5 in gunfire, however, or the timely arrival of help, soon forced what looked like a quick dive.
Postwar records reveal Antares' assailants to be I-36, whose torpedoes missed their target, and the kaiten-carrying I-165, which had departed Hikari on 15 June 1945 for the waters east of the Marianas as part of the "Todoroki" squadron—a special kaiten attack unit.
Ultimately reaching San Francisco, California, late in May, the ship completed discharging her remaining goods and commenced inactivation.