These operations, largely preparations for her fall deployment to the West Indies as a unit of Caribbean Amphibious Ready Group (CARG) 2-73, took place all through the summer at either locations near Little Creek or at Onslow Beach on the North Carolina coast.

When not engaged in the landing drills, she made port calls at such places as St. John on Antigua, St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, and San Juan in Puerto Rico.

She took on marines at Morehead City on 10 May and then headed out across the Atlantic She arrived in Rota on 20 May and received word there of her assignment to the multinational effort to clear the Suez Canal of the sunken ships that had barred its passage since 1967.

After amphibious exercises at Carbonaresl, Italy, and İzmir, Turkey, Barnstable County finally reached the Suez Canal on 8 June, though she did not actually enter Port Said until the next day.

For two weeks, the ship engaged in a variety of drills and exercises before damage to a bearing in her port shaft forced her into drydock at San Juan for repairs on 17 February.

Barnstable County visited Washington, D.C., in May; and, early in June, she made two short cruises to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and back to Little Creek while serving as a training platform for NROTC midshipmen.

The ship remained in port during July, but, in the first part August, she took up midshipman training once more with a voyage back to Halifax, this time by way of New York City.

The tank landing ship left Norfolk on 5 January 1976 and steamed to Morehead City, North Carolina, in company with the four other units of PhibRon 8; Spiegel Grove, Raleigh, Guadalcanal, and Charleston.

Arriving at Morehead City on 6 January, the ships loaded the 34th Marine Amphibious Unit (34th MAU) for rehearsal landings at Onslow Beach.

Plans for a landing exercise on Spain's Atlantic coast had to be canceled as a result of civil war in Lebanon, and the squadron passed through the Strait of Gibraltar instead on its way to Augusta Bay, Sicily.

Upon departing Augusta Bay after the storm subsided the ship headed for its first liberty port, Reggio di Calabria, on the Italian mainland.

Finally, after 69 days at sea, a lull in the fighting coupled with negotiations in progress allowed Barnstable County to proceed to Naples for a scheduled port call.

Spiegel Grove closed to within 25 miles (40 km) of the shore and dispatched an LCU to the beach while Barnstable County and the other ships stood by on station.

After two rainy days in Trondheim and a week's stay at Copenhagen, Barnstable County returned to Oslo to reembark the marines and carry them to their next operation.

After four days, she got underway for a liberty call at Nantes, France, where she served as the Navy's official representative at a celebration in honor of the Bicentennial of the United States.

Barnstable County left San Juan on 30 January and headed back to Vieques for another landing exercise, a major multilateral operation involving British, Brazilian, and Dutch forces in addition to those of the Navy and Marine Corps.

In April, crew members took advantage of an opportunity to fill gaps in their training while the ship underwent various inspections and carried out exercises in port.

After returning to Little Creek on 5 July, Barnstable County embarked Marine Corps reservists later in the week for a training exercise at Onslow Beach on the North Carolina coast.

Barnstable County made a three-day port visit at Nassau in the Bahamas before picking up the drones at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.

After that, Barnstable County stood back down Chesapeake Bay bound for Horne Brothers Shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, conducting sea trials as she went.

She returned to Little Creek on 30 October and, except for a short underway off the North Carolina coast between 27 November and 7 December, spent the rest of the year there in an upkeep status.

On 10 January 1979, she departed Little Creek in company with her PhibRon 2 squadron mates—Inchon, Austin, Spiegel Grove and Spartanburg County—a total of five ships that also comprised MARG 1-79.

Following an availability carried out from 10 to 23 February at Barcelona, Spain, the ship joined units of the 6th Fleet and of the Italian Navy in a "National Week" exercise.

The ship conducted rehearsal landings at Capo Teulado, Sardinia, on 13 and 14 May and then carried the actual assault exercise at Doganbey Bay, Turkey, on 25 May.

The ship remained in its home port until 26 July at which time she sailed north to New Haven, Connecticut, where she carried out training for the Naval Reserve unit based there.

The ship took a somewhat circuitous route home, steaming by way of the Virgin Islands and, from there, around Puerto Rico through the Windward Passage up the Old Bahama Channel skirting the eastern fringe of the Florida Strait and then along the east coast to Morehead City.

Barnstable County spent the night of 24 January in port after loading four drones and proceeded the next day to the Mobil Sea Range, near the Bahamas.

En route, however, she received notification that her assistance was unnecessary and orders to alter course for Málaga, Spain, where her crew enjoyed two days of liberty on 15 and 16 October.

Traveling once again by way of the West Indies, Barnstable County conducted gunnery exercises near Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico on 2 November before heading through the Old Bahama Channel and then north along the east coast.

[citation needed] Barnstable County was decommissioned on 29 June 1994 and transferred to the Spanish Navy through the Security Assistance Program, entering service on 29 August as Hernán Cortés (L-41), named after the 16th century conquistador.