Shortly thereafter, escorted by and , "Albemarle" sailed for the Canal Zone on 5 September 1942. Damaging her starboard screw at Coco Solo, the seaplane tender was ordered drydocked for repairs; after transiting the Panama Canal for the first time on 15 September, she entered dry dock at Balboa on the following day. Upon completion of repairs, she transported Army troops and marines to Rio Hato, Panama, for two days of joint Army-Navy maneuvers. Over the next several months, "Albemarle" acted as fast transport of aeronautical material and men to naval air bases in the Caribbean and the Pacific coast of South America, as well as in the northern South Atlantic. During this time (September–November 1942), she visited Salinas, Ecuador; the air base at Seymour Island, in the Galápagos Islands; San Juan and Bermuda, primarily operating out of Colon and Balboa and escorted by the seaplane tender . Relieved on station by the seaplane tender "Pocomoke", "Albemarle" sailed from the Canal Zone on 13 November escorted by "Goldsborough" and the small seaplane tender . Proceeding via San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda, the seaplane tender reached Hampton Roads on 30 November having completed her longest sustained tour of duty outside the continental limits of the U.S.