Her initial duties involved mostly training and exercises, including launching the first carrier-based jet aircraft, but demobilization prevented much activity in the late 1940s.

After the Korean War, Boxer saw a variety of duties, including as an anti-submarine warfare carrier and an amphibious assault platform.

In her later years, she served as a pickup ship for spacecraft during the Apollo program, and as an aircraft transport to troops during the Vietnam War.

Although she was extensively modified internally as part of her conversion to a Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH), external modifications were minor, so throughout her career Boxer retained the classic appearance of a World War II Essex-class ship.

[2][7] However, the U.S. Navy never maintained any institutional distinction between the long-hull and short-hull members of the Essex class, and postwar refits and upgrades were applied to both groups equally.

[9] The ship was powered by eight 600 psi Babcock & Wilcox boilers, and Westinghouse geared steam turbines that developed 150,000 shaft horsepower (110,000 kW) that turned four propellers.

Before these were complete, the Empire of Japan surrendered on V-J Day, marking the end of World War II before Boxer could participate.

[10] She returned to San Francisco on 10 September 1946, embarked Carrier Air Group 19 flying the Grumman F8F Bearcat fighter.

With this complement, Boxer began a series of peacetime patrols and training missions off the coast of California during a relatively uneventful period during 1947.

[11] In spite of manning difficulties brought on by the demobilization of the US military after World War II, Boxer remained active in Pacific readiness drills around the West Coast and Hawaii.

For the remainder of 1948 and 1949, she participated in numerous battle drills and acted as a training carrier for jet aircraft pilots.

[18] After rapid repairs in California, Boxer embarked Carrier Air Group 2, flying the Vought F4U Corsair propeller driven fighter-bomber, and departed again for Korea on 24 August, this time in a combat role.

[19][23] However, early in the operation, her propulsion system was damaged when a reduction gear in the ship's engine broke, a casualty of her overdue maintenance.

The group was composed of Navy Reserve squadrons from Dallas, Texas, Glenview, Illinois, Memphis, Tennessee and Olathe, Kansas, and most of its pilots were reservists who had been called to active duty.

[32] After another period of rest and refits, Boxer departed California 8 February 1952 for her third tour in Korea, with Carrier Air Group 2 embarked, consisting of F9F in VF-24, F4U in VF 63 and VF-64, and AD in VF-65.

[33] Rejoining Task Force 77, her missions during this tour consisted primarily of strategic bombing against targets in North Korea, as the front lines in the war had largely solidified along the 38th Parallel.

On 23 and 24 June, her planes conducted strikes against the Sui-ho hydro-electric complex in conjunction with Princeton, Bon Homme Richard and Philippine Sea.

On 1 September her aircraft also took part in a large bombing mission of an oil refinery near Aoji, on the Manchurian border.

[36] She also provided close air support for UN troops for the final weeks of the war before an armistice was reached at Panmunjom in July 1953, ending major combat operations in Korea.

During this time, the two sides often conducted costly attacks in order to strengthen their bargaining positions at the negotiating table.

[38] Later that year, she was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet, and became part of a new amphibious assault squadron with four Landing Ship Tank vessels equipped with helicopter platforms.

For the remainder of 1958 elements of this force were organized aboard Boxer and she was reclassified LPH-4, denoting a "Landing Platform Helicopter", on 30 January 1959.

In 1964, she undertook her first tour to the Mediterranean when she took part in Operation Steel Pike, the largest amphibious exercise in history.

[38] With two LSD ships, Boxer was dispatched to Hispaniola on 29 August 1964 on a humanitarian mission to aid Haiti and the Dominican Republic whose infrastructure had been damaged by Hurricane Cleo.

[38] On 26 February 1966, Boxer recovered AS-201, an unmanned test flight of the Apollo program which had launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida aboard a Saturn 1B rocket.

[30] From 16–17 March 1966, Boxer was the designated Atlantic prime recovery ship for Gemini 8, although USS Leonard F. Mason recovered the spacecraft and two crewmen after it encountered problems.