[1] Agerholm was assigned to Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 12 and settled into a routine of local training operations in the waters off southern California.

During one exchange of gunfire with a communist shore battery a single enemy shell struck the destroyer in the after part of the ship, starting a small fire in the crew's after berthing compartment but causing only minor damage to the weatherdeck.

[1] During the next five years, Agerholm deployed to the western Pacific four more times, and briefly stopped in Australia during the summer of 1958 to participate in ceremonies commemorating the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Agerholm left the shipyard in March 1961 equipped with the latest antisubmarine rockets (ASROC), torpedoes, helicopter facilities, radar and sonar.

She returned to her home port in June 1963 and commenced overhaul at the Naval Repair Facility, San Diego, to update and improve the electronic and weapons systems on board.

There, her assigned duties included Naval Gunfire Support (NGFS), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), carrier escort, and search and rescue (SAR).

In May during NGFS off the South Vietnamese coast, Agerholm provided call fire for a Marine Corps air spotter who was drawing heavy gunfire.

On 17 June Agerholm aided a South Vietnamese patrol boat and took off 12 badly wounded men while on a SAR mission in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The ship visited Subic Bay, Yokosuka, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong and Pearl Harbor before returning to San Diego in July.

[1] From 28 January to 10 February, Agerholm served as escort for the destroyer leader William H. Standley in the positive identification radar advisory zone (PIRAZ).

The destroyer shifted to the gunline on 23 March, and provided naval gunfire support to troops in the Viet Cong-dominated Rung Sat Special Zone (RSSZ).

Anchored in the shallow restricted water with the Viet Cong less than 6,000 yards (5.5 km) away, Agerholm was vulnerable to enemy fire, underwater swimmers, and mines.

For two tense days, the crew was uncertain of surviving the 60 knots (110 km/h; 69 mph) winds and 40-foot (12 m) seas, but the destroyer began to open the typhoon center late on 16 October.

On 29 June, the destroyer began another WestPac cruise, taking up gunline duties near Binh Thuy, South Vietnam, on 6 August.

The destroyer departed the shipyard on 21 December and steamed to San Diego, where she began preparations, both at sea and in port, for refresher training on 7 February 1973.

[1] After that port visit, the destroyer sailed to Auckland, New Zealand to join the other ships participating in Operation Longex 73, a joint surface, air, and submarine warfare exercise.

From 25 September to 3 October Agerholm drilled in ASW and anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) exercises – including night surface attacks on the task groups.

Upon completion of the drill, she steamed to Sydney, Australia; Suva, Fiji; and Pearl Harbor, before arriving back in San Diego on 1 November.

On 25 February 1974, the warship got underway for readiness exercises in the southern California area until 17 September, when she departed San Diego on her 20th WestPac cruise.

Remaining primarily in the Subic Bay operating area, Agerholm participated in gunnery, ASW, AAW, and ship handling drills until 13 December, when she shaped a course for Apra Harbor, Guam.

The destroyer visited Hong Kong and Singapore for liberty, but received orders on 8 February 1975 to join Operation Eagle Pull,[1] the evacuation of the American embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

[1] Agerholm arrived in San Diego on 8 April and spent the rest of 1975 and 1976 on the west coast participating in local operations and midshipman training cruises, and eventually landing a role in the movie Airport '77.

Agerholm conducted NGFS training, ASROC test firings, and participated in Exercise Fortress Lightning, a full-scale amphibious landing on Mindoro Island in the Philippines.

She stopped for liberty calls at Suva, Auckland, Whangārei, and Nelson, New Zealand, Newcastle and Devonport, Australia, before returning: to San Diego early in 1978 to resume a local operation schedule.