On 4 June, the vessel was involved in an exercise with a US Navy aircraft carrier towing a target during a shooting training with a 20 mm cannon (CIWS) over the western Pacific Ocean about 2,400 km (1,500 mi) west of Hawaii.

An incident occurred in which an A-6E carrier-based attack aircraft from USS Independence was shot down by mistake (the pilots were rescued by an escape internal fireboat of Yūgiri).

Though a malfunction in the Phalanx CIWS was initially implicated as the cause of the incident, human error was later blamed.

On 31 August 2012, the 13th dispatched anti-piracy action water squadron departed from Ōminato for the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia with JS Makinami.

On 23 January 2013, on her way home after completing her mission, she conducted goodwill training with the Maldives National Defense Force Coast Guard patrol boat Shaheed Ali in the Indian Ocean, and returned to Ōminato on 11 February.

In addition, on 1 September on the way back to Japan, a goodwill training was conducted with the Philippine Navy's BRP Rajah Humabon.