Following shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "John A. Bole" escorted the aircraft carrier north to New York, arriving on 24 April 1945. After moving to Boston to join , she sailed on 15 May for the Pacific during the final push in the war against Japan. Steaming via the Panama Canal, she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 7 June 1945. The ship joined a carrier group in Hawaiian waters, took part in the air strike on Wake Island on 20 June, and escorted a carrier to Eniwetok, arriving on 21 June.