Sailing by way of the Panama Canal and Vallejo, California, she arrived in Puget Sound where she carried out a variety of trials between 30 October and 19 November.

Upon her return to the United States West Coast on 17 December 1963, she entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for post-shakedown availability.

Seven weeks later, Barb left the yard at Mare Island and began a somewhat circuitous voyage to her new base, traveling by way of Seattle, Washington.

In Hawaii, as part of Submarine Division 71, the boat pursued an active schedule of training missions in the local operating area.

In fact, save for the period between 9 June and 25 July 1965 during which she voyaged to Mare Island Naval Shipyard for repairs to her sonar, the submarine operated in the Hawaiian area exclusively for two years.

In late 1966, the submarine made another extended voyage to the U.S. West Coast during which she visited San Francisco and then carried out weapons alignment tests at Dabob Bay, Washington, before undergoing repairs and modifications at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

Barb returned to Hawaii late in October and spent the rest of 1966 in Pearl Harbor in a restricted availability.

She arrived at Naha, Okinawa, on 22 May, and sailed for Vietnamese waters on the 27th for a Vietnam War tour of duty with Task Group 77.9.

Another upkeep period back at Yokosuka closed out the month of August, at which point Barb got underway for Hong Kong and a week-long liberty and goodwill visit.

On 11 April 1968 Barb reported dozens of warships, including four or five submarines, of the Soviet Navy's Pacific Fleet all moving slowly and pinging with active sonar.

Returning to Hawaii late in February, Barb pursued a normal schedule of local training missions from her base at Pearl Harbor.

She left the drydock in mid-October, but other repair work occupied her through the end of 1971 and into 1972 so Barb did not resume normal operations until the spring of 1972.

On 8 July 1972, Barb lay in Apra Harbor completing repairs prior to a patrol in the Mariana Islands.

The heavy weather had already forced surface ships to turn back, and caused the round-hulled submarine to roll and corkscrew violently.

Over the next hour, they were brought aboard, a task made more challenging by the 40-foot (12 m) waves that often exposed the submarine's screw and the ballast tank flood grates at the bottom of the boat.

During the remainder of 1973, the submarine returned to local training duty and began preparations for her second refueling overhaul scheduled to begin the following spring.

On the first leg of her voyage, she participated in the multinational exercise RIMPAC 77 and then made a two-day call at her former home port, Pearl Harbor, at the end of the month.

The submarine spent the period 20 April to 9 May in port at Guam, then put to sea for the first of two special operations that she conducted in May and June.

That employment lasted until the end of June at which time she put into Subic Bay for a week of liberty before heading back to the United States on 7 July.

After several weeks of relative inactivity, the submarine embarked on a schedule of local operations highlighted by her selection as a test platform for the Tomahawk cruise missile in late October.

She resumed normal operations out of San Diego late in July and continued so engaged until deploying to the western Pacific once more on 27 September 1978.

On 7 February 1980, Barb deployed to the mid-Pacific region to conduct equipment tests and procedure evaluations and to take part in the multinational exercise, RIMPAC 80.

On 21 July, Barb entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for an unusually extensive overhaul, which lasted until late 1982.

Barb eventually returned to the Point Loma submarine base in San Diego, California in December 1982.

Ex-Barb entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, and on 14 March 1996 ceased to exist.