In 1984, after a five-month post-shakedown maintenance availability, Buffalo transited through the Panama Canal during a change of homeport to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where she was assigned to Submarine Squadron 1.

[8] After conducting Western and Eastern Pacific deployments in 1990, the next year Buffalo entered dry-dock in Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and began a yearlong Depot Modernization Period during which she was temporarily assigned to Submarine Squadron 7.

[8] In late November 2005, the DDS was used to launch an underwater glider capable of gathering and storing information to be later transmitted using a built-in satellite phone.

[11] While stationed in Guam, she conducted 11 missions vital to national security and visited Australia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Saipan, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand.

[2] On 16 July 2018, Buffalo conducted her inactivation ceremony, the final public event prior to the ship's official decommissioning, which would occur within the access-controlled Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.