From their home port at Naval Air Station Cecil Field in Florida, the squadron made more than thirty major overseas deployments aboard aircraft carriers, primarily flying A-4 Skyhawk and later the A-7E Corsair II, including two combat tours in the Vietnam War.

[1] During WestPac in 1955, the squadron was part of the Navy's support of the evacuation of the Tachen Islands which were under bombardment by People's Republic of China forces.

After returning from this cruise, the squadron re-equipped with the F7U Cutlass and its role was changed from air interception to ground attack with special weapons.

The next year, the squadron returned to the area aboard USS Franklin D. Roosevelt to support the government of the Dominican Republic.

In August of the next year, the squadron was again on board the Roosevelt when the carrier was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in response to trouble between Greeks and Turks on the island of Cyprus.