Following the commissioning of the USS Bowditch the ship made numerous geodetic surveys in places such as Little Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti. Departing Norfolk on 9 January 1942, she steamed south to conduct surveys of the waters between Panama and Colombia, off the Galápagos Islands, and off the Cocos Islands in Costa Rica. Returning to Norfolk for repairs on 21 November 1942, she departed for south again on 17 February 1943. After survey work in the Caribbean through May, she transited the Panama Canal to work along the coasts of Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. Bowditch was reclassified as "AGS-4" on 1 December 1943.