After shakedown, "Pawcatuck" was assigned the task of transporting petroleum products between various United States Navy facilities and ports on the United States Gulf Coast, in the Caribbean and along the United States East Coast. In the summer of 1947, she joined the United States Sixth Fleet, operating in the Mediterranean Sea for her first overseas tour. From 1948 to 1961, "Pawcatuck" operated on a rotational schedule between the United States Atlantic Fleet and the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, participating in U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercises, United States Naval Reserve and United States Naval Academy midshipman cruises, and courtesy visits to foreign ports, and serving as flagship of Commander Service Squadron 2. She supported American forces during the Lebanon Crisis of 1958.