Over the next 20 years, Witek operated primarily off the eastern seaboard of the United States from Narragansett Bay to the Virginia Capes and to Key West, Florida She ranged on occasion into the Caribbean and touched at places such as Nassau, Bahamas; Guantanamo Bay and Havana, Cuba; the Panama Canal Zone; St. Croix, Virgin Islands; Bridgetown, Barbados; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Hampton Roads; and Boston.

On one occasion, the ship visited the West Coast – spending six months in operations out of San Diego, California, testing the sound gear formerly installed in the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen – in mid-1948.

During those tests, carried out under the supervision of the Naval Electronics Laboratory, Witek's silhouette took on a decidedly different "look" compared to that usually associated with a Gearing-class destroyer.

Working for two hours alongside Nassau police, firemen, and volunteers, Witek's sailors earned a unanimous vote of thanks in "helping stem what might have been the most disastrous fire in the Colony's history."

Outside visiting La Guaira, Venezuela, the seaport for Caracas, in January 1948, Witek spent most of her underway time off the eastern seaboard and in the western Atlantic – sometimes in the Caribbean – participating in experimental exercises with other units of the Operational Development Force based at New London.

On occasion, though, outside her normal independent routine, Witek conducted exercises with carrier task forces for ASW maneuvers.

Besides carrying out operational tests of ASW electronics equipment, Witek served as the test-bed for the "pump jet" propulsion system.