[1] After completion of shakedown in September 1946, Buck operated with the Pacific Fleet along the west coast from Acapulco, Mexico, to Ketchikan, Alaska.

Upon her return to San Diego she participated in reserve cruises along the west coast and in Operation Miki off the Hawaiian Islands.

Buck departed the United States on 11 January 1950 for her second Western Pacific tour and returned to California on 25 April 1950.

During these cruises, Buck escorted aircraft carriers, conducted anti-submarine warfare exercises and carried out security patrols off China and the Formosa Strait.

Following a Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) II conversion in 1961-62, the destroyer resumed Far East deployments, conducting her first Vietnam cruise in 1965, during which she carried out Market Time maritime interdiction patrols.