[1] Timbalier, and her sister USS Valcour (AVP-55), were initially ordered in February 1944 to be completed at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, but were transferred back to the Lake Washington Shipyard in June 1945.

She underwent a period of sea trials off the United States West Coast, completing them on 27 July 1946.

[3] Timbalier departed Hampton Roads on 3 December 1946, bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico.

She served with FAW-11 as a tender for their Martin PBM Mariner flying boats for the rest of her naval career.

[3] With the increase in the Soviet submarine threat by 1951, the PBM Mariner squadrons deployed to carry out reconnaissance off the U.S. East Coast, and plansd called for them to concentrate on convoy defense and antisubmarine warfare in the event of conflict with the Soviet Union, supported by Timbalier, her sister ship USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38), and the seaplane tender USS Currituck (AV-7).