After completing her shakedown cruise off Bermuda, "Healy" returned to New York 31 October. The ship departed for a week of coastal patrol on 10 November, and after meeting a convoy at sea steamed into Norfolk, Va. on 18 November 1943. Two days later she cleared port en route to the Pacific, and after transiting the Panama Canal arrived San Francisco, Calif. on 4 December. From there she proceeded to Pearl Harbor, and after arrival on 11 December spent several weeks training in Hawaiian waters with and other ships which would become the famous Task Force 58 (TF 58) under Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher.