[1] English arrived in the Hawaiian Islands on 3 September 1944 for final training and service as plane guard during the qualification of aviators in carrier operations.

She put to sea on 30 December for airstrikes to neutralize Japanese bases on Formosa, Luzon, Okinawa, and the coast of Japanese-occupied French Indochina in support of the invasion of Lingayen Gulf.

[2] English returned to Ulithi to replenish between 26 January 1945 and 8 February, then sailed to Saipan to meet the cruiser Indianapolis and escort her to a rendezvous with newly designated TF 58.

On 1 April, she closed Okinawa to provide Naval gunfire support for the invading troops, returning to the carrier screen for strikes against shore targets and shipping.

The next day, English went close alongside Bunker Hill, damaged by a kamikaze, to help fight fires and to evacuate Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher and his staff, who she transferred to another carrier.

English put into San Pedro Bay, Philippines, from 1 June to 1 July for repairs and exercises, then sailed again with TF 38 for the final series of airstrikes on the Japanese homeland.

Alerted for distant deployment upon the outbreak of the Korean War, English departed Norfolk 6 September 1950 for the Panama Canal, San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Midway and Yokosuka, where she arrived 5 October.

From her return to Norfolk on 9 June 1951, English resumed local training operations and in the winter of 1952 joined in cold-weather exercises off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

On 26 August 1952 she departed for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operations in which she visited Britain and a tour of duty in the Mediterranean, returning to Norfolk 5 February 1953.

On 31 October 1954, while at sea for a major fleet exercise, she collided with the destroyer Wallace L. Lind, lost 50 feet (15 m) of her bow but suffered no casualties, sailing into port under her own power and was repaired by early in 1955.

From May to August 1955, English made a goodwill cruise to ports of northern Europe and between 28 July 1956 and 4 December 1956 served again in the Mediterranean, visiting Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.