In 1925, Falcon joined the Control Force for operations in the Panama Canal Zone, along the U.S. West Coast, and in the Hawaiian Islands. She returned to home waters in September, and began her part in the salvage operations on USS S-51 in which she joined that fall and the next spring. After the submarine was raised through determined and ingenious efforts, it was Falcon who towed her to New York in July 1926, providing air pressure for the pontoons supporting the submarine, as well as her compartments.
Acting as tender as well as salvage ship for submarines, Falcon accompanied them to fleet exercises in waters from Maine to the Panama Canal Zone, and conducted many operations to develop rescue techniques, as well as training divers. She stood by during deep submergence runs and other tests of new submarines, and played an important role in raising USS Squalus in the summer of 1939, and in the rescue operations on USS O-9 in June 1940.
