This patrol in the Gulf of Siam was highlighted by a series of excellently conducted gun attacks which disposed of 57 small ships totaling 5,284 gross register tons.

She ended her patrol with her arrival on 20 June 1945 at Subic Bay on Luzon in the Philippine Islands, where she underwent a refit alongside the submarine tender USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16).

On 23 July 1945, after diving to avoid an Imperial Japanese Navy Kawanishi H8K Type 2 (Allied reporting name "Emily") flying boat headed out from the beach off the coast of Lem Chong Pra, Schade ordered a commando party ashore heavily armed with demolition equipment.

At 16:50, Bugara halted and boarded her ninth contact in just a day, a brand-new 51-gross register ton schooner sailing from Singapore with a cargo of sugar and coffee.

Bugara made her next contact at 17:30 when her raiding party boarded the 50-gross register ton junk Kian Huat, which was carrying sugar and coffee from Singapore to Champon, Thailand.

At 17:40, she moved into waters as shallow as 7 fathoms (42 ft; 13 m) to stop and sink a 150-gross register ton schooner loaded with 10 cases of cholera antiserum), other medical supplies, scrap iron, and rice.

One hour later, Bugara′s raiding party boarded a 20-ton schooner flying the Japanese flag and carrying a load of miscellaneous gear, removed her crew, and sank her with gunfire.

While Bugara was alongside the vessel, an Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi F1M Type 0 (Allied reporting name "Pete") observation floatplane approached from shore.

The schooner′s Japanese crew apparently had abandoned ship early, so Schade ordered Bugara to open gunfire on the schooner without bothering to first board her and ascertain her cargo.

At 14:42, Bugara halted and searched a 50-gross register ton schooner flying the Thai flag and loaded with rice bound for Singapore, then sank her by gunfire.

Schade decided to put the native crew of the schooner ashore at dark, and looked over the coast of Koh Tan in order to find a safe-looking place to do so.

At 09:40 on 30 July 1945, Bugara examined a 30-gross register ton coastal cargo ship on her maiden voyage, manned by a Chinese crew of eight and proceeding from Singapore carrying sugar.

Schade ordered Bugara to resume her pursuit of the vessel, and the raiding party boarded what turned out to be a 100-gross register ton schooner bound for Bali in the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies carrying a cargo of rice and salt.

The boarding party then moved on to contact number 40 of Bugara′s war patrol, a 33-ton coastal cargo ship also flying the Imperial Japanese Navy ensign, and Bugara′s gunners sank her.

The 211-gross register ton schooner carried a cargo from Singapore of what her manifest called "miscellaneous gear," but Bugara′s boarding party was unable to make a good search in the dark, so Bugara took off the schooner′s crew and two lifeboats and sank her with gunfire.

Bugara next made the 43rd contact of her war patrol, which proved to be a new 180-gross register ton schooner on a voyage from Singapore flying the Rising Sun flag.

Later that day, Bugara′s lookouts noted two Imperial Japanese Navy Kawanishi H8K (Allied reporting name "Emily") flying boats, the first at a range of 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) and the second searching in the area where she sank all three vessels.

At 07:40 on 5 August 1945, Bugara boarded, searched, and sank a 200-gross register ton schooner heavily loaded with coffee, sugar, sewing machines, and other gear.

After completion of the overhaul, she made a training cruise into the Bering Sea and port visits to Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, before returning to Pearl Harbor.

Although Iowa enjoyed land-based air cover and tried to throw off her pursuers by several radical course changes, the submarines still achieved four "successful" mock attacks against the battleship.

After their completion, she rendered services to surface ships and aircraft in the Guam area from 16 to 22 July 1948, then departed for Pagan in the Mariana Islands, where she conducted shore bombardment exercises and landed stores and passengers for United States Marine Corps forces stationed there.

Her next port of call was Yokosuka, Japan, where she arrived on 27 July 1948. she also made stops at Tsingtao, China, and Buckner Bay on Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands.

After completion of her repairs and the end of the Christmas holiday season in late December 1950, Bugara once more departed for the Far East, where she again supported United Nations forces in Korea from January to June 1951.

During this overhaul, she was converted for submarine snorkel operations and had a new, streamlined conning tower fairwater installed, the first time the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard undertook such work.

During an antisubmarine warfare exercise south of Barbers Point, Oahu, on 3 August 1952, Bugara came to periscope depth and saw a bow with the number "634" painted on it very close and approaching fast at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

“The small pump room flooded, both [peri]scopes required replacement, the upper half of the sail and [periscope] shears needed extensive repairs…We were in the [ship]yard [for] several weeks and the cost was, I'm sure, substantial.”[8] After completing her repairs and conducting work-ups and local operations in Hawaiian waters from Pearl Harbor, Bugara visited Hilo, Hawaii, then entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for an overhaul on 22 June 1953.

Following three weeks of upkeep, her crew painted a white hash mark on her sail signifying her third consecutive Battle “E” award, and she continued workups and other duties in the San Diego area.

On 1 May 1966, while transiting the Lombok Strait southbound to the Indian Ocean, Bugara honored her sister ship USS Bullhead (SS-332), lost on 6 August 1945 during World War II, with a wreath-laying ceremony.

Immediately after shakedown, and until 15 June 1967, she visited the Dabob Bay Torpedo Testing Facility in Puget Sound for fire-control system checks and calibrations.

During the visit the submariners distributed books, toys, vitamins, and athletic equipment and, in conjunction with the Royal Thai Navy, constructed basketball backboards and ping-pong tables.