"Dennis J. Buckley" sailed from Norfolk on 7 November 1945 for occupation duty in the Western Pacific, arriving at Tokyo Bay on 22 December. She operated in the Marianas and visited Manila, Philippine Islands, before returning to San Diego on 13 April 1946. On her second tour of duty in the Far East, in 1947, she cruised off the coast of China providing services to the Fleet and joined in exercises off Okinawa. On 1 October 1948 she steamed for Tsingtao, China, where she patrolled during the evacuation of civilians from the threat of the Communist advance into northern China. She joined and and sailed by way of Hong Kong and Singapore; Colombo, Ceylon; Bahrein and Jidda, Saudi Arabia; and Port Said, Egypt, to Athens, Greece where the three ships joined others for a visit to Istanbul, Turkey. She returned to New York on 22 February 1949, completing a round-the-world cruise. "Dennis J. Buckley" departed New York on 1 March 1949 for a brief period of operations on the west coast, returning to the Canal Zone 10 May for exercises in Caribbean waters.