Departing Galveston, Texas, 18 April, ATA-198 steamed via the Panama Canal and San Francisco, California, for duty in the Pacific.

On 19 June 1951, while the United States fought to protect South Korea from Communist aggression, she departed San Diego for a 10-month deployment in the western Pacific Ocean.

Operating primarily out of Sasebo, Japan, Keosanqua provided tug service along the coast of Korea from Makpo to Inchon.

On two subsequent deployments (26 January-30 September 1953 and 7 February-2 October 1955) Keosanqua served with the United States Seventh Fleet in the Far East, providing harbor tug and target towing services out of Sasebo and Yokosuka, Japan.

The first for her actions in the United Nations Summer-Fall Offensive in November 1951, and the second for the Second Korean Winter campaign in January – March 1952.