He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in 1922, graduated in 1926, and served on board USS Richmond, mainly in the Far East, between 1926 and 1928.

Lieutenant Black had duty with the Navy's Bureau of Navigation, in Washington, D.C., in 1938 and attended Harvard University for two years, beginning mid-1938.

Repairs completed, she sailed to Ulithi where, upon arrival on 13 March, she reported to the Fast Carrier Task Force (then TF 58) for duty.

She participated in type and fleet operations along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean until 10 January 1953 when she departed Norfolk, Va. for the Pacific, via the Panama Canal, on a round-the-world cruise.

Until January 1955, she conducted type training, fleet operations, and plane guard duties along the east coast and in the Caribbean.

Over the next decade and a half, Black regularly crossed the great ocean to take her place as a unit of the 7th Fleet, serving as an aircraft carrier escort, taking part in antisubmarine warfare exercises, patrolling in the Taiwan Strait and visiting ports throughout the Far East.