Subsequently sailing to Melbourne, Australia, and arriving on 23 March, "Whipple" operated with Australian and New Zealand Navy warships on convoy escort duties along the Great Barrier Reef until 2 May. She departed Sydney on that day, bound for the New Hebrides Islands, American Samoa and Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 6 June. Together with sister ship "Alden", "Whipple" departed Pearl Harbor on 8 June for San Francisco, escorting an eastward-bound convoy to the U.S. West Coast, arriving on the 18th.