She departed Hawaii 13 December, transited the Panama Canal, 1 January 1946, and arrived at Portsmouth, Virginia, on the 8th. She steamed southward (12–16 February 1946) carrying a cargo of oil to Guantanamo Bay 12 February, where she reported to TG 23.9, a shakedown group composed of former U.S. Navy vessels under lend lease originally slated for the British, but then provided to the Nationalist Chinese Government. For the next 2 months she rendered repair, tender, and fuel services to the group in Cuban waters and then was assigned to accompany them to China.