Her operations included embarking a Marine Amphibious Ready Group and transporting the MARG to the Mediterranean Sea for a six month deployment.

In 1979 she deployed to the Mediterranean and eventually redirected to the Indian Ocean and Diego Garcia during the Iran Hostage Crisis.

In 1993 she again deployed to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to participate in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.

She was decommissioned on April 21, 1994, and moved to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the vessel was laid up.

On 29 September 2023, El Paso was removed from the Philadelphia NIMSF and towed to Brownsville, Texas, where it was scrapped.