O'Bannon conducted an Intermediate Maintenance Activity Availability (IMAV) period from 16 to 24 July alongside Puget Sound (AD-38), flagship of Commander Sixth Fleet.

Getting underway for Charleston, O'Bannon crossed the Arctic Circle on 1 September, holding the traditional Order of the Blue Nose ceremony.

Making way for South America, she made several port calls in Latin American countries throughout October–November before steaming to Africa for a West-African Training Cruise (WATC).

In May 1984 she took to sea as a participant in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Tour visiting Germany, England, Netherlands, and other NATO alliances.

O'Bannon was part of the Middle East Task Force assigned to patrol off the Saudi Arabian coast near the Iran–Iraq War exclusion boundary and was released by the USS Stark.

After participating in New York City's Fleet Week, from 19 to 25 April 1988, O'Bannon remained in Charleston most of the rest of the year, with short deployments to the Caribbean.

Underway from her homeport at Charleston, O'Bannon participated in Square Shooter Exercise on 24 January 1991, before conducting a port visit to Boston (21-23 February).

On 5 July, O'Bannon and Yorktown (CG-48) became the first U.S. Navy ships to make a port visit to Severomorsk, homeport of the Russian Northern Fleet.

In January 2000, while acting as flagship for DesRon 14, O'Bannon spearheaded a group sail involving several maneuvering, weapons, and tactical exercises.

Continuing her counter-narcotics operations into February 2001, O'Bannon returned to her homeport on 1 March before transiting up the St. John's River to the Atlantic Dry dock facility to complete emergent repairs for a week.

From 2 to 4 May, the destroyer participated in a bilateral exercise with the Peruvian Navy and Coast Guard, consisting of boarding operations and maritime interdiction.

The destroyer participated in counter-narcotics operations in the western Caribbean from February–July, before steaming out for brief underway periods to conduct training exercises through early December.

[6] In the end she was sunk off the coast of Virginia at 3:23pm on 6 October 2008 in a training exercise by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier group, using missiles, guns and finally a Mk 82 bomb.