After three months of shakedown and training off the United States East Coast, Navasota steamed via the Panama Canal for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the western Pacific Ocean. Assigned to Service Force, United States Pacific Fleet, she departed Pearl Harbor on 3 July 1946 to bring petroleum products from the Persian Gulf to the Pacific fleet. She stood out of Yokosuka, Japan, on 20 August 1946 for San Pedro, California, arriving on 2 September 1946.