The emphasis on low-level operations prompted the Navy to begin work on modifications to the PB4Y-1 beginning in 1943. Featuring a longer fuselage, large single tail, and turbo super-charged engines that performed better at low-altitude, the resulting PB4Y-2 was nicknamed the Privateer and the first of 736 production aircraft entered service with Bombing Squadron (VB) 200 in August 1944. By the time of the invasion of Okinawa in April 1945, eleven squadrons operated the type, their missions ranging across the Central Pacific into Southeast Asia and eventually to the Japanese Home Islands. Typically, Privateers attacked enemy shipping at masthead level, their turret gunners strafing the decks while the pilots released the aircraft's ordnance load. In addition, one squadron, Patrol Bombing Squadron (VPB) 109, was the selected to be the first to carry the Mark 9 Bat, a guided weapon that sought out its target using a built-in radar system.

Versions of the PB4Y remained in operation for nearly a decade following World War II, equipping patrol and weather reconnaissance squadrons and serving as an air-sea rescue platform for the U.S. Coast Guard. Their service included combat missions in Korea, where Patrol Squadron (VP) 772, the first Naval Air Reserve squadron to fly combat missions in the Korean War, perfected the use of Privateers in dropping flares over the front lines to assist Marine attack aircraft in supporting operations on the ground. The aircraft also flew shipping surveillance missions over the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea, with aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 28 attacked on two occasions by Chinese MiG-15 jets. Privateers also saw combat on other fronts during the Cold War, with Soviet aircraft downing a Patrol Squadron (VP) 26 aircraft over the Baltic Sea in 1950. The last operational Privateers operated with the Navy as drone aircraft.