Following shakedown, Mauna Kea, designed for rapid replenishment of ammunition at sea, reported for duty with ServRon 1 in the eastern Pacific.

Completion of this conversion, which would enable her to transfer a missile from her hold to the magazine of a missile‑firing ship in 90 seconds and allow her greater versatility in servicing the fleet with the addition of a helipad for vertical replenishment capabilities, was delayed for 8 months, because of strikes and lack of necessary parts, until June 1966.

By November she was again an active unit of the Pacific Fleet's Service Force and on 28 December she departed her home port of Concord, California, for her ninth WestPac deployment.

On 20 February 1968, Mauna Kea departed the Naval Weapons Station, Mare Island Annex, Vallejo, California for a WESTPAC deployment.

Mauna Kea departed Yankee Station on 26 September to return to her homeport, Concord, California, arriving on 14 October 1968.

On Jan 15, 1973, in the South China Sea a forklift driver aboard ship reported a UFO hovering nearby during an ammunition transfer [1] Mauna Kea was decommissioned on 30 June 1995, and struck from the Navy list on 12 December 1996.