Assigned to Fighter Squadron 5 on the USS Saratoga, Bass flew combat air patrol during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons during which he was shot down and reported missing in action on 24 August 1942.

Departing on 16 February 1945, Horace A. Bass escorted ammunition ship USS Firedrake (AE-14) to Panama, from where she proceeded to San Diego, California, arriving on 3 March 1945.

As the battle raged ashore, she served on the vital picket line to warn of incoming Japanese air raids until 10 April 1945, when she sailed with a convoy to Guam.

Early on 30 July 1945, she was on picket duty in the area when a low-flying kamikaze suicide aircraft crashed through her superstructure and fell alongside, its bomb exploding close aboard.

Horace A. Bass took part in 'the occupation of the giant Yokosuka Naval Base, furnishing the prize crew which took possession of battleship Nagato, one of the very few major ships left to the Imperial Japanese Navy.

She was in overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, from 11 February 1946 to 10 April 1946, then spent the remainder of 1946 in the San Diego area on training operations.

As communist troops began to gain the upper hand in the Chinese Civil War, Horace A. Bass evacuated civilians of several nations from Nanking in November 1948.

Horace A. Bass sailed on 14 July 1950 to join the fleet units already deployed off Korea, arriving 2 August 1950 with troops of the 2nd Marine Division.

Underwater Demolition Teams and Marine Reconnaissance units were assigned to her, and she moved to the eastern coast of North Korea to carry out raids on Communist supply lines.

Horace A. Bass put her troops ashore in the first wave on 15 September 1950, as the extremely successful amphibious operation suddenly reversed the course of the war.

In 14 separate raids with American, British, and Republic of Korea landing parties, Horace A. Bass did much to interrupt the all-important supply lines from the north, which proved vulnerable to mobile forces afloat.

The battle stars were for: Upon her arrival at Yokosuka on 3 August 1950, Horace A. Bass became flagship of an amphibious control squadron, and took part in various training landings in Japan.

She carried on practice landings in South Korea and took part in fleet exercises until February 1955, when she moved to the Taiwan Strait to evacuate Nationalist Chinese troops from the Tachen Islands.

During the years that followed, Horace A. Bass made short cruises with naval reservists to Caribbean ports, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, helping to maintain the skills of hundreds of reserve officers and men.