1946
Subsequently, Willard Keith proceeded down the west coast; transited the Panama Canal; crossed the Gulf of Mexico and then proceeded around the tip of Florida, bound for New York City. After voyage repairs at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., the destroyer stood out of the yard on the last day of January and proceeded up the eastern seaboard to Newport, Rhode Island. She engaged in gunnery exercises out of that port and, upon conclusion of that first phase of her peacetime training program, returned to New York. She made five more short round trips between New York and Newport until 12 July, when she set out for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
After operations in the British West Indies area, Willard Keith returned to Norfolk, Virginia, from whence she escorted the veteran battleships Washington (BB-56) and North Carolina (BB-55) to Culebra, Puerto Rico, for shore bombardment exercises. The destroyer then returned to Norfolk as part of the screen for the battlewagons, before she drew another escort assignment, this time with the aircraft carrier Philippine Sea (CV-47). Conducting exercises and maneuvers en route, the carrier and her consorts reached Guantanamo Bay for training before returning northward and putting into Newport.
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