He received a citation for prompt and efficient action and utter disregard of personal danger in the effort to repel the attack on the Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Oahu.

Otterstetter sailed on her shakedown cruise along the East Coast of the United States and on 14 November joined a convoy and steamed as escort from Norfolk, Virginia, to Casablanca, French Morocco.

On 24 May Otterstetter made the first of three voyages to Argentia, Newfoundland, escorting convoys en route to the United Kingdom.

On 16 July 1945 Otterstetter sailed for Pearl Harbor via Guantánamo Bay, Panama Canal, and San Diego, California.

On 19 July 1952 Otterstetter reported to Commander Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, as a unit of Escort Squadron Sixteen.

After a shakedown cruise to Guantánamo Bay she sailed 4 December for her first picket in the contiguous radar coverage of the Atlantic Coast, searching for and reporting aircraft in her sectors of responsibility.