 Finally, her tour of duty in the Far East completed, "Van Valkenburgh" sailed for the United States on 17 November, departing Sasebo on that day, bound for the West Coast.Reaching San Diego on 6 December—via Midway and Pearl Harbor—the destroyer soon pushed on for the East Coast, transiting the Panama Canal on 18 and 19 December.Making port at Charleston, South Carolina, two days before Christmas of 1945, "Van Valkenburgh" was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 12 April 1946.