She arrived at Yokosuka on 6 December and within a week was on station with a 7th Fleet task group, taking up her part in the schedule of readiness training and exercises.

In company with CruDesFlot 11, Lynde McCormick departed 5 August for a 6-month deployment along the Vietnamese coast, primarily in the screen for Bon Homme Richard and other aircraft carriers.

Lynde McCormick spent the remainder of the year conducting coastal exercises, a successful competitive firing of her, missiles, and a summer cruise to Hawaii training midshipmen.

After anti-submarine exercises with the Royal Canadian Navy in January 1966, Lynde McCormick prepared for a third tour of duty in WestPac.

[1] On 20 July 1983 the New York Times reported that Lynde McCormick, along with seven other vessels in the USS Ranger Battle Group, left San Diego on Friday, 15 July 1983 and were headed for the western Pacific when they were rerouted and ordered to steam for Central America to conduct training and flight operations in areas off the coasts of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras as part of major military exercises planned for that summer.

The battle group was composed of the carrier Ranger, battleship New Jersey (which joined the group in late August), cruiser Horne, the guided missile destroyer Lynde McCormick, the destroyers Fletcher and Fife, the frigate Marvin Shields, the oiler Wichita and the support ship Camden.