Next came training exercises in the Key West area until late 1948, when she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for a Greater Underwater Propulsive Power Program (GUPPY) modernization.

From August through November, she joined the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, visiting ports of Italy, France, and Sicily, before returning home.

In 1951 she recovered at sea the remains of Raymond Lewis of Brooklyn, New York, a victim of the FV Pelican disaster, which involved an overloaded party fishing boat that sank off the coast of Montauk on 1 September 1951.

[8] In September and October 1952, Sea Leopard participated in NATO operation "Emigrant," and then cruised in Bermuda waters, until entering the Charleston Naval Shipyard in December for overhaul.

The yard work was followed by her participation in "LantPhibEx," as a member of forces opposing a simulated amphibious assault on the coast of North Carolina.

In June, she participated in festivities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Netherlands Submarine Force at Rotterdam, before sailing to Charleston, South Carolina, for an overhaul.

Joining Task Group Alfa, she participated in operations to develop antisubmarine warfare tactics and readiness, until undergoing restricted availability at Charleston Naval Shipyard (August to October 1959) to install a new high capacity battery.

Arriving back at Norfolk on 10 November, she again joined Task Group Alfa for antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training until February 1963.

In 1968, Sea Leopard participated in exercises "Aged Daddy V" and "Rugby Match," and joined the search for the ill-fated submarine Scorpion (SSN-589).

[9] Sea Leopard was decommissioned and struck from the Navy list on 27 March 1973 and transferred to Brazil, where she was commissioned into the Marinha do Brasil as Bahia (S-12).