[1] Following shakedown training out of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, John King carried out weapons tests on the East Coast before arriving Norfolk 7 September 1961 for regular duty.

She arrived Washington 10 July 1962 for a 4-day stay, entertaining a group of Senators and Congressmen as well as Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth.

After the crisis eased, the ship remained in the Caribbean operating with the Navy's newest and biggest carrier, the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise (CVN-65).

The next twelve months were spent on training and readiness exercises off the Virginia Capes and in the Caribbean, including a week at the Anti-submarine Warfare School, Key West, Florida, in April 1964.

John King was decommissioned on 30 March 1990, was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 January 1993 and sold for scrap on 10 February 1999.