Although scheduled to join the Pacific Fleet for the final assault on Japan, Harold J. Ellison was completing her shakedown cruise when the surrender came on 15 August 1945.

Homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, she operated in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea for the next two years, taking part in United States Navy Reserve training cruises, and anti-submarine warfare exercises.

Beginning in 1947, when she sailed from Norfolk on 10 November, Harold J. Ellison added periodic cruises to the Mediterranean Sea with the 6th Fleet to her operations, helping to keep the peace and protect American interests in this area.

The destroyer screened aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-60) and heavy cruiser Des Moines (CA-134) from July to September 1958 while the 6th Fleet landed United States Marines at the request of Lebanese President Camille Chamoun.

Harold J. Ellison added a new function in January 1962, when she was assigned to Project Mercury as a part of the recovery unit in the Atlantic Ocean.

On 29 September 1965, Harold J. Ellison departed Norfolk with Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 24 and headed via the Panama Canal for the Pacific Ocean.

She served as plane guard for aircraft carriers on "Yankee Station" in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in "Sea Dragon" operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out naval gunfire support missions during the Vietnam War.

Leaving Southeast Asia by steaming eastward through the Suez Canal, she completed her round-the-world cruise upon returning to Norfolk in April 1966.

In 1994, she was cannibalized for parts and sunk as a target vessel by a PAF Dassault Mirage-5 of the Haiders with an Exocet Anti-Ship missile during Exercise Nasim-ul-Bahr.