After three months of intensive training in Hawaiian waters, the warship got underway on 18 December and headed west to join Vice Admiral John S. McCain's Fast Carrier Task Force.

After a refueling stop at Eniwetok on Christmas Day, Ault entered Ulithi Lagoon on 28 December 1944 and, along with her sister ships of Destroyer Squadron 62 (DesRon 62), reported to Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan for duty in the escort screen of Task Group 38.2 (TG 38.2).

When Ault reached the forward area, Leyte was in American hands; but the Philippines were still the focus of the aircraft carrier's operations, and they were directed to strike targets on Luzon and Formosa early in January 1945.

After the strike on Formosa on 9 January, the destroyer in company with Waldron, Charles S. Sperry, and John W. Weeks, swept Bashi Channel ahead of Task Force 38 (TF 38), while proceeding into the South China Sea.

Heavy weather as well as the proximity of the enemy created a tense atmosphere in which the carriers continued to mount strikes against the Cam Ranh Bay area, Hong Kong, Hainan, Swatow, and the Formosa Strait.

Ault was assigned to Rear Admiral Forrest Sherman's Essex Task Group 58.3, which launched diversionary strikes against Formosa, Luzon, and the Japanese mainland on 16 and 17 February.

Ault again participated in the bombardment of Minami Daito Shima on 10 May, then rejoined the task force to assist in repelling heavy enemy air attack.

On 18 and 19 July, the ship joined with Cruiser Division 18 and other destroyers in an antishipping sweep of Sagami Wan and a bombardment of Nojima Saki.

Ault operated off the coast of Honshū on patrol until 2 September when she entered Tokyo Bay and anchored near Missouri during the formal surrender ceremony on board that battleship.

From 6 to 16 September, the warship steamed across the Atlantic to join 6th Fleet tactical exercises and maneuvers, including a simulated assault on Cyprus.

Her ports of call included Aranci Bay, Sardinia; Cannes, France; Argostoli and Piraeus, Greece; and Famagusta, Cyprus.

Prior to leaving Europe, she called at Antwerp, Belgium; Rouen, France; the Isle of Portland, England; and Leith, Scotland.

Ault sailed for the Mediterranean on 3 September for another tour with the 6th Fleet and stopped for liberty calls in ports in Sicily, Italy, France, Greece, and Portugal.

After transiting the Panama Canal and stopping at San Diego, Pearl Harbor, and Midway, she arrived at Yokosuka, Japan, on 6 December and reported for duty with the 7th Fleet.

For the first six months of 1955, the destroyer conducted Caribbean exercises and local operations, including plane guard duty off Jacksonville, Florida, with carrier Lake Champlain.

The destroyer exercised with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean and called at ports in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and Sicily before returning to Norfolk in June.

In June, the ship entered the Great Lakes for Operation Inland Seas,[1] a celebration honoring the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

[citation needed] The ship headed north, approaching Russia, and then turned around to rejoin the Weeks and depart the Black Sea.

Designed to extend the life of the destroyer by eight years, the overhaul enabled her to meet the challenge of newer and faster enemy submarines.

After completion of the overhaul in February 1963, Ault devoted the rest of the year to improving her readiness and the skill of her crew through various exercises and training cruises.

Besides a full three-month schedule of drills, the ship made port calls in Marseille, Golfe-Juan, Livorno, Naples, and Palma before returning to Norfolk to spend the last four months of 1965 in the local operating areas training, requalifying in gunfire support, and going to sea for hurricane evasion.

Upon her return to her home port, the destroyer underwent a preoverhaul availability and then entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard on 12 April for major work which ended on 14 September.

She arrived back in Mayport on 7 October 1966 and devoted the last quarter of the year to training at Guantanamo Bay in preparation for a lengthy deployment to Vietnam.

After a short period of ASW drills with Spinax near Subic Bay, she steamed with Ticonderoga to station in the Gulf of Tonkin for plane guard duties.

As part of this unit, she joined Collett, Boston, and Hobart in conducting sweeps from Cap Lay north to Thanh Hóa.

From 28 May to 2 June, Ault provided gunfire support in the I Corps area; then proceeded to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for upkeep alongside Delta and then a week of rest and relaxation in Sasebo.

She stopped at Kaohsiung, Yokosuka, Midway, Pearl Harbor, San Francisco, and Acapulco, and even made a side trip south of the equator to convert "Pollywogs" into "Shellbacks".

She remained with the 6th Fleet for a three-month cruise highlighted by her participationin Operation Emery Cloth, a British ASW exercise in which Ault was the sole representative of the United States Navy.

Struck from the Navy List on 1 September 1973, Ault was sold to the Boston Metals Company, Baltimore, Maryland, and subsequently scrapped.