Assigned to Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 112, Benjamin Stoddert conducted local operations in Hawaiian waters through October, when she began preparations for her first tour of duty with 7th Fleet in the western Pacific.

The warship spent a week of alongside Isle Royale (AD-29) to repair a broken steam blower before departing Japan on 6 February to return to the South China Sea.

During the next three weeks her crew took part in the annual "Coral Sea Celebration" – in honor of the May 1942 Allied naval victory – and visited Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne in Australia as well as Wellington, New Zealand.

During this time, her engineers and technicians busied themselves maintaining and improving the warship's complex electronic and fire-control systems, a task abetted by a two-week availability alongside Frontier (AD-25) in mid-February.

Later that same day, she joined Saint Paul (CA-73) and Ault (DD-698) for a "Sea Dragon" patrol; and the task unit prowled the North Vietnamese coast at the 19th parallel, searching for enemy waterborne logistics craft.

During the tense days that followed, the warship's duties included antiair early warning, carrier screening, and electronic intelligence gathering to pinpoint radar and other installations in the Shandong province of eastern China.

When the crisis abated in mid-May, Benjamin Stoddert turned south, visiting Singapore and spending a day on "Yankee Station," before mooring at Subic Bay on 1 June.

During four weeks of operations, air and ground spotters directed her guns at enemy supply points, troop concentrations, rocket sites, and infiltration routes; and, by mid-September, she had fired over 5,000 5-inch rounds at these and other targets.

To guard against enemy underwater swimmer attacks while at anchor in Danang harbor, Benjamin Stoddert's crew assisted her marine sentries by frequently dropping concussion grenades in the water.

The guided-missile destroyer then headed south for Indonesia, held "a rousing shellback initiation" when she crossed the Equator on 3 September and entered Surabaya harbor for a goodwill visit on the 4th.

Relieving USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) on 17 September, Benjamin Stoddert provided continuous radar and communications services for barrier combat air patrol (BARCAP) operations over the next 25 days.

Four days later, Benjamin Stoddert joined Task Unit (TU) 77.1.0 for Operation "Freedom Train" – a series of strikes against enemy forces and their logistical infrastructure in North Vietnam.

When enemy gunfire started falling close aboard, including several air bursts that sprayed shell fragments near the warship, Benjamin Stoddert returned double salvos commencing an inconclusive gun duel that lasted about 13 minutes.

Once American mines shut down the major North Vietnamese harbors, many Chinese communist merchant ships sought refuge in strategic lagoons and inlets whence their cargoes were ferried ashore.

Over the next two weeks, she cruised offshore with an amphibious ready group (ARG) and covered three Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships sent to the Vung Tau area on the 23d for evacuation duty.

Still, heightened Cold War tension intruded when, just before midnight on 8 June, Aneroid – a Soviet intelligence gathering trawler – fired an illumination flare over Thai ship HTMS Khirirat.

Mooring at Pearl Harbor on 12 August, the warship spent the rest of the year doing maintenance work on her boilers and standing several regular safety and readiness inspections.

The unit's transit of the South China Sea was interrupted on the 30th, however, when Benjamin Stoddert rescued 39 Vietnamese refugees from their sinking boat, an act that later brought her the Humanitarian Service Medal.

Stoddert remained in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf through the end of the year, helping to assure Western access to oil and countering the spread of Soviet influence in the region.

This limited Stoddert's mission, therefore, to surveillance operations against Iranian forces, especially "Silkworm" missile sites in the Strait of Hormuz, and to the provision of communications and other data links to friendly aircraft in the region.

In addition, the warship participated in a joint Navy-Coast Guard exercise in late June, took part in ASW drills in mid-August, and served as ready duty destroyer during the month of September.

Her crew spent the summer testing new maintenance procedures, passing safety inspections, and taking the warship to sea for exercises such as the combined American, Australian, Canadian, and Japanese "RimPac 88" battle problems held between 7 and 17 July.

Finally embarking on her deployment on 20 September, the warship joined Waddell, Hepburn, Barbey (FF-1088), Kiska (AE-35), and Willamette (AO-180) in Battle Group "Bravo" for the voyage west to the Persian Gulf.

Although the "tanker war" in the Persian Gulf had ended on 20 August with the cease-fire between Iran and Iraq, American warships still patrolled the region, replacing tanker-escort duty with general "zone defense."

The warships then steamed north into the South China Sea for four days of ASW exercises with units of the Royal Thai Navy, followed by a three-day visit to Pattaya Beach, Thailand.

Benjamin Stoddert then sailed independently for Subic Bay, arriving there on 1 February to begin a week-long upkeep and maintenance availability dedicated to main propulsion plant repairs.

Instead of sailing northwest for home, however, Stoddert passed through the Panama Canal on 3 October, entered the Caribbean Sea – the first and only arm of the Atlantic Ocean to wash her hull – and pulled into Willemstad, Curaçao, on the 6th.

Benjamin Stoddert began her last year in service with a surface warfare exercise in late January 1991, and her crew remained busy with training through the end of March.

Departing Hawaii on 3 April, the warship cruised in southern California waters for the next five weeks, conducting antisubmarine warfare (ASW) drills and naval gunfire practice off San Clemente in addition to readiness training with the Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) battle group.

Combat Action Ribbon & Meritorious Unit Citation – 1972 WestPac This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.