Kearsarge arrived at her home port of Norfolk, Virginia on 21 April 1946, and for the next year engaged in training operations along the East Coast and Caribbean. She cleared Norfolk on 7 June 1947 on a midshipmen training cruise to the United Kingdom.
Upon her return to the United States in August, the carrier engaged in maneuvers for 10 months before departing Hampton Roads on 1 June 1948 for duty with the 6th Fleet. During her tour in the Mediterranean, units of the 6th Fleet were placed on alert to insure peace in the Middle East. Kearsarge returned to Quonset Point, Rhode Island on 2 October, and operated along the Atlantic Coast and the Caribbean until 27 January 1950, when she sailed for the West Coast. The carrier arrived Puget Sound Navy Yard on 23 February, and decommissioned there on 16 June 1950 for the SCB-27A modernization overhaul that would enable her to handle new jet aircraft.
