Following shakedown training which took Jouett to England and Ireland, the ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia on 29 April 1939 and began operating on the Neutrality Patrol along the East and Gulf Coasts.

Following the talks, which cemented relations between the countries and provided for closer naval cooperation, President Vargas departed Jouett on 29 January.

On New Year's Day 1944 she joined Omaha for ocean patrol; and the ships intercepted German blockade runner SS Rio Grande, with a cargo of crude rubber.

This effective closing of the South Atlantic to German blockade runners was demonstrated even more forcefully on 5 January when patrol planes reported a strange ship identifying herself as Floridian.

Jouett returned to Charleston once more in March 1944 and engaged in training operations in Casco Bay, Maine, before sailing for England in convoy on 16 May 1944.

In early October Jouett steamed off Cap Ferrat, giving gunfire support to American troops in the fighting ashore.

After refresher training in Casco Bay in April, the battle-tested ship made convoy voyages to England and Cuba before the end of the war on 15 August 1945.