On 23 October 1944, while patrolling off western Luzon, Bream made a daring surface attack on a Japanese naval force, damaging the heavy cruiser Aoba.

During her voyage, an Allied Liberty ship mistook her for a Japanese submarine and opened gunfire on her at a range of 12,000 yards (11,000 m) in the Coral Sea at 18°31′S 153°13′E / 18.517°S 153.217°E / -18.517; 153.217, firing five or six rounds.

[7] Bream reached Milne Bay, New Guinea, on 14 May 1944 and underwent voyage repairs alongside the submarine tender USS Euryale (AS-22).

She made several contacts with Japanese vessels in Morotai Strait, but conditions prevented her from taking any offensive action.

Her luck changed on 8 June 1944, however, when she spotted a Japanese convoy, selected a transport as a target, and unleashed a six-torpedo spread.

On 13 June 1944, while Bream tracked another Japanese convoy, a depth-charge barrage forced her to break off pursuit before she could maneuver into position for an attack.

She fired torpedoes at two transports, and breaking-up noises reverberated throughout the submarine shortly thereafter as the 5,704-gross register ton Japanese cargo ship Yuki Maru disintegrated and went to the bottom.

On 7 August 1944, Bream moved to an area off Davao Gulf in an attempt to intercept traffic coming from the Palau Islands.

She paused at Darwin on 9 October for minor repairs and refueling before continuing on to her patrol area off the Philippine Islands between the northern end of Palawan Passage and Manila.

On 16 October 1944, she sighted a two-masted barge with an escort but decided to let them pass to avoid alerting more valuable targets of her presence.

On 24 October 1944, Bream picked up six survivors of a Japanese ship sunk several days before by the submarine USS Bluegill (SS-242).

On 25 October, she moved into position for an attempt to intercept the Japanese fleet retiring from Philippine waters after Japan's defeat in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

On 30 October 1944, she spotted a Japanese convoy, fired a six-torpedo spread at a large transport, and went deep to avoid depth charges.

She continued on through Lombok Strait northbound, entered the Java Sea, spotted a sailboat on 31 December, and decided to attack it with her 4-inch (102 mm) gun.

After four uneventful days, she moved to the northern end of the strait but again made no contacts and so shifted to Miri on the coast of Borneo for reconnaissance work.

On 13 March 1945, she intercepted two Japanese "sea trucks" — the U.S. term for small cargo ships — and sank them with her 4-inch (102 mm) gun.

Bream then set a course through Lombok Strait for Australia and reached Fremantle on 22 March 1945. she underwent a refit, during which both of her periscopes, her starboard propeller shaft, and both of her screws were replaced, and the damage to her torpedo tubes was corrected.

Several depth charges dropped by a Japanese escort vessel shook Bream, but she managed to clear the area safely.

Bream continued her patrol uneventfully until pulling into port at Subic Bay on Luzon in the Philippines on 14 May 1945 for voyage repairs and fuel.

From June 1951 to August 1952 she engaged in the training of submarine crews and services to the Fleet Sonar School at San Diego, California.

On 10 September 1952, Bream was decommissioned to undergo conversion to an antisubmarine "hunter-killer submarine" at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco.

She commenced a cold-weather training cruise to Alaska in September 1954 and made a stop at Pearl Harbor before returning to San Diego on 15 November 1954.

In early October 1956 he made a return visit to Chinhae and a call at Hong Kong for shore leave during the first week of November 1956.

After three more months of providing services in support of United States Seventh Fleet ships, Bream returned to Pearl Harbor early in April 1958.

She began another cruise to the western Pacific on 8 August 1962 and visited Yokosuka, Japan, and Chinhae, South Korea, in the fall and early winter of 1962.

After her overhaul, Bream began a training cruise which included stops at Port Angeles, Bangor, and Bremerton, Washington.

After a voyage during which she provided services to aircraft, she finally reached Naval Station Sangley Point in the Philippines on 29 March 1966.

During this cruise, she visited Hong Kong; Songkhla and Bangkok, Thailand; Subic Bay and Cebu City in the Philippines; Keelung and Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Chinhae, South Korea; and Sasebo and Yokosuka, Japan.

She left Yokosuka on 21 February 1969 and proceeded to San Diego, where she arrived on 12 March 1969 After leave and upkeep, she took up local operations once more along the coast of Southern California.

On 28 June 1969, Bream was decommissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and her name was struck from the Navy list the same day.