Steaming to Manila 10 February, "Kenneth M. Willett" cleared the bay 15 February for patrol duty along the Chinese coast. She arrived Tsingtao 20 February with five other destroyer escorts and commenced operations from the Yellow Sea to Shanghai in support of Chinese Nationalists' efforts to wrest control of the northern Chinese Mainland from the Communists. Following ASW operations in the North Yellow Sea 1 to 5 April, she departed Tsingtao 15 April en route to the United States. Steaming via Guam, Eniwetok, and Pearl Harbor, she arrived San Pedro, California, 11 May. She decommissioned 24 October and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego, California, 10 November.