After fitting out and completing sea trials at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Barbey got underway on 4 February 1973 for shakedown training in the Hawaiian Islands.

Before post-shakedown availability at Long Beach, which commenced on 12 May, the ship enjoyed a three-day liberty at Acapulco, Mexico, plane guarded for Hancock and conducted acoustic tests at Seattle.

The availability included a drydock period from 5 June to 9 October during which workers at Long Beach Naval Shipyard modified her flight deck and hangar to accommodate a light airborne multi-purpose system (LAMPS) helicopter and installed an experimental controllable-pitch propeller (CPP).

She returned to San Diego for upkeep and minor repairs which included the installation of a steel ball 35-feet in diameter on the helo hangar and the correction of an oil leak in the CPP hub.

On 12 July, the destroyer escort departed the west coast for several weeks of refresher training in Hawaii, her crew honing their antisubmarine warfare skills en route.

On 6 January 1976, the warship entered drydock at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for repairs and modifications which primarily entailed the removal of the experimental CPP in favor of a standard, fixed-blade propeller.

Following sea trials and deperming, Barbey conducted refresher training from 26 April to 7 May, then returned to San Diego for a month of preparation for upcoming inspections and tests.

Following her arrival at Subic Bay on 6 September, nearly three weeks of intensive upkeep readied the warship for the combined Exercise "Kangaroo II" with the Australians off the east coast of Australia from 12 to 25 October.

Three weeks of upkeep and replenishment at Guam and briefings at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, preceded the ship's participation in the Exercise "Sharkhunt XX" in late February.

With the exception of a brief respite at Aberdeen, Wash., in mid-October, she remained in or near San Diego for the remainder of the year engaging in various exercises and drills designed to maintain the ship in a high state of readiness.

Upkeep, training, and drills occupied the ship through the first half of 1979 culminating in the successful completion of her operational propulsion plant examination (OPPE) in late June.

Barbey began the return voyage to San Diego which included stops at Fremantle, Australia; Subic Bay, Guam, and Pearl Harbor.