 "Atakapa" was recommissioned at Orange on 9 August 1951, slightly over a year after Communist forces invaded South Korea.She held shakedown training at Newport, Rhode Island, and Norfolk, Virginia, and made the first major tow of her new career in February 1952, when she pulled a large vessel from Panama to Philadelphia.From April to July, "Atakapa" was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and devoted herself largely to target towing.