ARD-20 departed Manicani on 25 February 1947, under tow by the merchant ship SS Robert Eden, and arrived in Apra Harbor, Guam, on 9 March 1947.

Later in 1946, the merchant ship SS Robert Hartley towed her by way of Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, to San Pedro, California, where the two vessels arrived on 11 September 1947.

Eighteen years later, in October 1965, ARD-20 was moved to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard at Terminal Island, California, where work began on her modernization and conversion into a bathyscaphe support ship.

White Sands concluded her part in the Scorpion assignment early in August 1969 and was towed, via the Panama Canal, to San Diego, California, where she arrived on 7 October 1969.

To reach her permanent home, however, required passing through the 80-foot wide Hiram Chittenden Locks in Ballard - a difficult accomplishment for a vessel with an 81-foot beam.

In cooperation with the US Army Corps of Engineers, operators of the locks, a plan was devised to turn the White Sands partially on her side and then send her through.

[2][3] The White Sands remains the largest vessel ever to transit the Ballard Locks, and is still in use as a dry dock at Lake Union Drydock Co. in Seattle, WA.