15 October 1946 found her back at Charleston Navy Yard, and while maneuvering out her slip that afternoon, Salinan collided with USS John W. Weeks, carrying away the destroyer's starboard propeller guard.

The fleet tug's normal duties were interrupted by the Cuban Missile Crisis in late 1962, during which she provided critical support services in the immediate area along with several of her sister ships.

Tensions in the Caribbean remained high throughout the mid-1960s, and Salinan spent much of her time in the waters surrounding Cuba and the Dominican Republic performing a variety of functions.

In November 1966, the fleet tug steamed to San Juan, Puerto Rico to take the refloated minesweeper Stalwart in tow, which had sunk at the pier following a fire in her machinery space.

The following year, Salinan added support operations for NASA to her achievements, serving as the launch site sea salvage vessel for the Apollo 8 mission.

During the 1970s, Salinan made several transatlantic deployments to Holy Loch, Scotland, towing sections of the floating dry dock Los Alamos.

On 14 April 1975, Salinan departed Mayport in the midst of a severe gale to render assistance to the gunboat Beacon, which had become disabled and lost power during the storm.

High seas and gale-force winds battered the stranded gunboat for eight hours until Salinan arrived to tow her back to Mayport early the next morning.

The veteran tug continued to provide valuable towing, rescue, and salvage services along the east coast of the United States throughout the remainder of her career, and was decommissioned at Mayport on 1 September 1978.