Following two months of trials, the dock landing ship loaded amphibious craft and personnel at San Diego, stood out to sea on 11 August, and headed west.

After a period of availability and operations in Hawaiian waters, the ship headed for the West Coast of the United States.

Ashland underwent repairs and held amphibious landing exercises before sailing with Task Group 33.1 (TG 33.1) for the assault on Yap and Ulithi.

Despite continuing air attacks, Ashland's crew carried out repair work on schedule until she finally withdrew to Eniwetok on 31 March.

The ship's first assignment upon leaving the yard was Operation Bluejay, held in conjunction with the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS).

In September, Ashland left Greenland and sailed to the Caribbean for two months of operations before returning to Norfolk in November for the remainder of the year.

From April to June 1955, the ship underwent repairs at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and then proceeded to Newport, Rhode Island, for underway training.

On 1 November, Ashland was transferred to the control of Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic, for alterations enabling the ship to tend aircraft.

At the conclusion of this assignment, the dock landing ship was decommissioned on 14 September 1957 and placed in the Norfolk Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

Assigned to Amphibious Squadron 4, she began a routine alternating operations off the East Coast with 6th Fleet deployments to the Mediterranean and to the Caribbean.

Early in February 1965, Ashland took part in Operation FirEx, a joint Navy-Marine Corps exercise off the Puerto Rican coast and returned to Little Creek on 6 March.

Upon her return to Little Creek on 27 June, Ashland conducted upkeep until sailing for Narragansett Bay on 18 July for a series of training exercises.

Ashland spent the next few months in training exercises and then entered Norfolk Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company on 18 November for overhaul.

The yard work ended on 3 March 1967, but Ashland remained in the Norfolk area until 10 April, when she left for underway training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Ashland touched back at home port in early June and engaged in local operations until 3 October, when the dock landing ship sailed for Vieques.

She relieved Donner at Almería, Spain, on 24 January and then held landing exercises at Aranci Bay, Sardinia, and Lovo Santo, Corsica.

From 29 April to 10 May, Ashland took part in NATO Exercise Dawn Patrol which also involved French and Greek naval forces.

During July and August, the amphibious warship made visits to several East Coast ports and embarked American and Australian midshipmen for a training cruise.

During the deployment, she repeated her routine of amphibious landing exercises and port visits before returning to the United States in late April 1969.

After 2 months at Little Creek, Virginia, the Ashland embarked on its final Mediterranean Cruise, sailing in early July for Rota, Spain.

It received orders to return to Little Creek while in Crete, cutting short its cruise, and the ship made its way back, encountering along the way a hurricane in roughly the area soon to be called the Bermuda Triangle.