She subsequently tended the Battle Fleet's destroyers at Balboa, Canal Zone, in the autumn and returned to San Diego in November 1936.

After participating in Fleet Problem XX, Whitney returned through the canal to the west coast, reaching San Diego in May.

She departed Hawaiian waters on 20 August, proceeded to the west coast, and touched at San Diego and Long Beach before returning to Oahu on 18 September.

[1] At Pearl Harbor, the destroyers Tucker, Conyngham, Reid, Case, and Selfridge were moored alongside Whitney at berths X-8 and X-8S.

[1] Whitney began issuing ammunition and ordnance stores to the destroyers alongside at 0830, securing steam devices to those ships at about the same time.

At 1335, the tender sent over five lengths of hose and two submersible pumps to Raleigh, then fighting for survival where she had been torpedoed alongside Ford Island early in the attack.

[1] Departing Tongatabu on 16 August, nine days after the start of Operation Watchtower, the invasion of the Solomons and the first American amphibious assault of the war, Whitney arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia, on the 20th.

She was based there during the critical period in the Solomons operations and provided battle-damage repairs and tender upkeep services to numerous destroyers, enabling them to return quickly to action and help the United States Navy to gain the upper hand.

[1] Very much in need of an overhaul for herself and rest and recreation for her crew, Whitney departed Noumea, headed for Australian waters, and reached Sydney on 23 April for a fortnight's stay.

[1] Returning to Noumea on 8 May, Whitney repaired over the next few months and kept in operation many units of the hard-pressed destroyer forces which were fighting for the northern Solomons.

Heading for the New Hebrides on 10 September, she arrived at Espiritu Santo on the 12th and conducted her vital labors there until 27 October, when she received orders sending her to Purvis Bay in the Solomons.

[1] After returning to San Diego, Whitney was decommissioned on 22 October 1946 and transferred to the custody of the Maritime Commission at Suisun Bay, California, on 21 November 1946.

As corporation counsel of that city between 1875 and 1882, Whitney completely reorganized and simplified the work of his department, thus saving taxpayers thousands of dollars annually.