She transited the Panama Canal en route, reached San Diego, California on the 28th, pushed on for the western Pacific, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 4 September, where she paused briefly before proceeding on to Eniwetok, in the Marshalls, joining Service Squadron 10.
As she neared the anchorage, a Japanese kamikaze, its pilot intent on bigger game than the water carrier, flew past the tanker's starboard side and crashed into the attack transport ship Hinsdale before she could unload her troops.
Tombigbee remained off Okinawa through the end of the war, and her historian noted that "the entire harbor went wild" when news arrived that Japan had accepted unconditional surrender terms.
The tanker departed the Ryūkyūs on 21 September, bound for Japanese waters, and, two days later, arrived at Sasebo to participate in occupation operations.
Following this tour of duty, for which she received the Navy Occupation Service Medal, Tombigbee supported the ships participating in the atomic bomb testing (Operation Crossroads) in the Marshalls at Bikini Atoll, from 1 April to 5 September 1946.
She operated out of Guam; Yokosuka, Japan; Pusan and Jinsen (Inchon), Korea; Qingdao, China; Buckner Bay and Naha, Okinawa; as well as at Manila in the Philippine Islands.
The North Korean invasion of South Korea, commencing on 25 June 1950, triggered the reactivation of many Navy ships, including Tombigbee.
The gasoline tanker was recommissioned at Mare Island, California, on 28 July 1950 and was deployed to the Middle Pacific (MidPac) operating area where she served until near the end of hostilities in Korea.
On 27 March 1954 Tombigbee was part of the fuel supply network for aircraft and other support vehicles on Bikini, Eniwetok, & Kwajalein atoll during the AEC Nuclear weapons tests.
She deployed to the Far East in the spring of 1962, conducting logistic support operations out of Subic Bay, Philippines, from 16 May to 8 June before proceeding to Yokosuka and technical availability.
While in the Far East, Tombigbee operated out of Subic Bay; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Hong Kong; and Yokosuka before departing Japan on 7 June and arriving at Pearl Harbor on the 18th.
On 6 September, she departed Pearl Harbor, bound, via Guam and Subic Bay, for South Vietnam and arrived at Da Nang on 4 October.
Following a routine return to Pearl Harbor for upkeep and availability, the tanker was again deployed off Vietnam with Service Squadron 5 through 1971, supporting Operation Market Time in the Vietnamese coastal waters, with periodic visits to such ports as Singapore; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Hong Kong; Brisbane, Australia; and Subic Bay.
Renamed Ariadni (A414) – after the mythical daughter of King Minos who helped Theseus to escape from the labyrinth – the ship served with the Hellenic Navy as a support tanker through 1979.