Kearsarge arrived at her home port of Norfolk, Virginia, on 21 April 1946, and for the next year engaged in training operations along the East Coast and Caribbean.

Upon her return to the United States in August, the carrier engaged in maneuvers for 10 months before departing Hampton Roads on 1 June 1948 for duty with the 6th Fleet.

Eighteen Navy personnel and ten Marines were unaccounted for after a 50-foot open launch returning some 90 men to the carrier from liberty swamped in the choppy water of Hampton Roads on 31 May.

The carrier arrived Puget Sound Navy Yard on 23 February, and decommissioned there on 16 June 1950 for the SCB-27A modernization overhaul that would enable her to handle new jet aircraft.

Arriving at Yokosuka on 8 September, Kearsarge joined the fast carrier Task Force 77 (TF 77) off the east coast of Korea six days later.

For the next five months, the carrier's planes flew nearly 6,000 sorties against Communist forces in North Korea, unleashing considerable damage on enemy positions.

After returning to San Diego, Kearsarge was used in the filming of the 1954 movie The Caine Mutiny to depict the abortive visit to Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. aboard his unnamed flagship.

Her planes landed parties of medical and supply units, while her crew and air group donated clothing and money to the distressed people.

Upon completion of repairs and training, Kearsarge departed Long Beach, California, on 1 August 1962 to station herself in the Western Range as a recovery ship in the Project Mercury orbital space flight of astronaut Walter Schirra after splashdown.

Kearsarge resumed training exercises, continuing these for six months before arriving Pearl Harbor on 29 April 1963 to once again take part in the space program.

The carrier repeated her earlier splashdown recovery by plucking astronaut Gordon Cooper on 16 May 1963 after he orbited the Earth 22 times in his capsule Faith 7.

While U.S. Navy planes destroyed North Vietnam oil and supply depots, Kearsarge provided antisubmarine protection for the 7th Fleet.

After overhaul during the first half of 1965, Kearsarge operated off the West Coast and appeared in a 1965 episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre entitled "The Admiral," with a number of Douglas A-1 Skyraiders painted in Korean War-period colors on her deck for the production.

She operated on the West Coast until departing San Diego on 18 August and reached Pearl Harbor 10 days later to prepare for future action.