A veteran of the Vietnam and First Gulf War, she served for 36 years before being laid up in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in California.

In September 1958, Hassayampa, deployed with the 7th Fleet to prevent invasion of Chinese offshore islands and convoyed Nationalist transports during the Quemoy-Matsu Crisis.

On 2 April 1963, Hassayampa and the aircraft carrier Constellation established a new underway replenishment record for AO/CVA class ships by achieving a transfer rate of 9,857 barrels of fuel oil per hour.

On 6 April 1963, Hassayampa and Constellation broke their previous record by achieving a transfer rate of 10,247 barrels of fuel oil per hour.

Finally, on 15 April 1963, Hassayampa and Constellation again broke their own record by achieving a transfer rate of 11,246 barrels of fuel oil per hour.

On 31 March 1964, she joined a Navy carrier task force from Subic Bay, Philippines for operations in the Indian Ocean.

On 4 April 1964, the Concord Squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral R. B. Moore and composed of the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard, the destroyers Shelton, Blue, Frank Knox and Hassayampa, entered the Indian Ocean from the Pacific and began a 6-week goodwill cruise which carried it near Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Malaysia, the African Coast and into ports along the way for good will visits, until returning to Subic Bay 16 May 1964.

During the Tonkin Gulf crisis in August 1964 Hassayampa provided at-sea logistics support for the ready ships of the U.S. Pacific and 7th Fleets.

Resuming Far East duty in April 1965, Hassayampa operated in the South China Sea and supported the American efforts in the region.

Mobility and the endurance sustained by underway replenishment forces resulted in maximum use of 7th Fleet carriers for retaliatory raids, for strikes in support of troops ashore, and for attacks against the enemy lines of communication.

Hassayampa returned to home port Pearl Harbor on 16 December 1965, thence serving as a recovery logistic ship during the Gemini 8 space shot in mid-March 1966 in unison with the destroyers Leonard F. Mason, Charles P. Cecil, George K. MacKenzie, Myles C. Fox, Noa, Cochrane, Goodrich, landing helicopter dock Boxer, minesweeper Fidelity, and auxiliary vessels Caloosahatchee, and Paiute.

Sailing again for the Far East 5 June 1966, during the next five months Hassayampa maintained a busy schedule refueling escort vessels and aircraft carriers of the Pacific and 7th Fleets including Constellation, Oriskany, Ranger, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Intrepid and Coral Sea.

Oriskany sounded general quarters and initiated an emergency breakaway, dropping hoses into the sea between the two ships to be able to pull away to port.

Upon regaining steering and a return to composure, Buck headed for Subic Bay for emergency drydock repairs that took about 30 days to accomplish.

The command module "Columbia" splashed down about 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) south of Johnston Island at 12:50 GMT 24 July 1969.

July, August, September and October 1972 found Hassayampa facilitating the heavy cruiser Newport News and other naval ships in combat action throughout southeast Asia—and continued that stance well into the 1980s.

In early August 1973 Hassayampa had just started shipyard availability when ordered to support two specially configured Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships (USNS Corpus Christi Bay and USNS Wheeling) that were observing French nuclear tests on Mururoa Atoll, 750 miles (1,210 km) southeast of Tahiti.

On 6 September 1973, Hassayampa proceeded at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) to accomplish this, meeting up with Corpus Christi Bay, underway, and began what turned out to be a 42-hour UNREP.

In 1981, working in conjunction with the submarine Barbel, Hassayampa was instrumental in securing the rescue of 87 Vietnamese refugees drifting at sea in an open boat off the coast of South Vietnam.

September and October 1983 found Hassayampa entwined in Russian politics and foreign intrigue when she accompanied United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC Douglas Munro, the rescue salvage ship USS Conserver and the fleet tug USNS Narragansett in search and salvage efforts surrounding the wreckage of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 that was brought down by Russian aircraft.

These vessels, which housed navigation systems equipment, had the assignment of towing sideways scanning sonar designed to detect objects at the bottom of the sea such as the wreckage of Korean Air Lines Flight 007.

In addition to the above ships, there were numerous Japanese Maritime Safety Agency (JMSA) patrol boats and South Korean vessels.