Elder returned to Boston 25 June 1943, and sailed 8 August, for San Diego, California, Pearl Harbor, and Funafuti, Ellice Islands, arriving 15 November.

After an overhaul on the U.S. West Coast, Elder returned to the South Pacific Ocean to repair nets at the fleet base at Manus, arriving there 30 April 1945.

She laid sonar buoy moorings to protect against Japanese submarines entering Subic Bay; made a sounding survey of North Channel between Corregidor and Bataan; and in September began plotting the position of known wrecks in Manila Harbor.

But sound training and Navy "know-how," combined with determined courage in the ship's intrepid damage control parties, subdued the raging flames.

Her engines damaged beyond repair, the stricken net tender drifted helplessly for a week before assistance in the form of Comstock (LSD-19) and Piedmont (AD-17) arrived on 18 March.

She returned to Tiburon 27 January 1952, and except for occasional cruises to Eniwetok, Kwajalein, and Guam for net and buoy operations, served on the west coast.