Snowden sailed for New Orleans, Louisiana, on 3 September en route to Bermuda for her shakedown cruise which lasted until 14 October.

Snowden got underway for a short training cruise to Norfolk on 5 January 1944 and then escorted USS Arkansas (BB-33) to New York.

That evening, a sound contact was made by Snowden, but she was ordered out of the area so that aircraft from USS Croatan (CVE-25) could drop sonar buoys, which produced negative results.

The task group was forced to return to port for a resupply of depth charges on 5 May before continuing operations in June and July.

On 22 August, Snowden joined task group TG 22.5 and operated in the Caribbean until 30 December 1944 when it returned to Norfolk.

Snowden remained at Norfolk until 4 July when she sailed for Pearl Harbor, via Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Panama, and San Diego, California.

She held refresher training at Guantanamo Bay in July and August and then conducted exercises out of Newport, Rhode Island, from September 1951 to March 1952.

The escort resumed her normal east coast operations until February 1960 when she became a Group I, Naval Reserve Training Ship.

Snowden was decommissioned in August and placed in service as a Group II, Naval Reserve Training Ship and berthed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

She operated from there until April 1962 when she was ordered to return to Philadelphia where she was again decommissioned and resumed her former status as a Group II, Naval Reserve Training Ship.