After shakedown along the West Coast, Keppler cleared San Diego, California on 9 October 1947 for training exercises in Hawaiian waters. The destroyer then sailed to Australia and China before returning San Diego on 20 May 1948. Early in 1949 Keppler entered San Francisco Navy Yard for conversion to antisubmarine destroyer. Resuming operations on the West Coast on 9 June, she departed San Diego on 5 October for duty in the Atlantic.
