After two offensive patrols in the Solomon Islands, the submarine departed Brisbane, Australia on 26 January 1943 to prowl the shipping lanes around Rabaul.
Following shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, John A. Bole escorted the aircraft carrier Franklin north to New York, arriving on 24 April 1945.
The ship remained off Okinawa until the Japanese acceptance of surrender terms on 15 August, then departed for the East China and Yellow Seas to support the occupation and to take part in minesweeping operations.
John A. Bole joined a cruiser-destroyer force on 8 September off Jinsen, Korea, to cover the landings of troops at that important port.
Following a long repair period to prepare her for peacetime service, the destroyer arrived San Diego on 10 April 1947 to begin a regular schedule of training maneuvers and cruises for Naval Reservists.
With the amphibious assault on Inchon on 15 September, an end run made possible by control of the sea, the tide of the ground war rapidly reversed.
Upon arrival she helped maintain the pressure on Communist troops in the stalemated land war by screening carriers during air attacks.
Bole also took part in shore bombardment along both the east and west coasts of North Korea, operating with British and Dutch ships.
The ship moved to the Formosa Straits for patrol duty designed to deter Chinese Communist aggression there, finally returning to San Diego on 11 July 1952.
Following a yard period in which she added 3-inch rapid fire guns to her armament, John A. Bole departed on 21 February 1953 for her third Korean tour.
Then after returning to Korean waters, the destroyer sailed on 1 June to Wonsan harbor for six days dueling with shore batteries while protecting the allied-held offshore islands.
She sailed from San Diego on 20 April and returned 17 October, adding carrier operations in the South China Sea and antisubmarine warfare exercises off Okinawa to her busy schedule.
In 1955 and again in 1956 she spent six-month periods in these familiar waters, training and showing graphically the value of seapower to the security of the United States and her allies.
John A. Bole again sailed westward on 23 August 1958, this time amid mounting chaos from revolt in Indonesia and growing trouble in southeast Asia.
She operated in the Philippines and on Formosa Patrol, helping to stabilize affairs in this strategic region, returning to San Diego on 16 February 1959.
In June, John A. Bole served as an air-sea rescue station ship for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's flight across the Pacific, and during the summer she embarked NROTC Midshipmen for training.
Emerging in July 1962, she took part in training operations for the remainder of the year, interrupted by several weeks of alert at sea during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October.
Returning to San Diego on 24 May, the destroyer entered Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard late in June for overhaul and stayed there through the remaining summer.
She visited Malaysia before heading home via Subic Bay, Guam, and Pearl Harbor, arriving San Diego on 24 September.
On 12 February John A. Bole conducted a Search and Rescue (SAR) effort to a South Korean fishing vessel in distress.
On 30 March, John A. Bole departed the Gulf of Tonkin for its first, 10-day port visit of the deployment and destroyer tender availability with Samuel Gompers in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (3–13 April).
On 21 the destroyer departed Sasebo en route to home port of San Diego arriving there on 5 July and mooring at the US Naval Station completing the Westpac deployment.
On her last cruise in 1970, John A. Bole participated with Destroyer Squadron 21 in Naval Gunfire Support operations off the coast of Vietnam and also as a unit of the fast carrier attack group at Yankee Station.
From 6 to 19 February, John A. Bole conducted plane guard duties and screened Ranger in the Tonkin Gulf at Yankee Station.
John A. Bole stayed with the Shangri-La task group until 28 May when she sailed to Subic Bay for her first stop before returning to the United States.