Commissioned in late 1944, she participated in the latter part of the Pacific War in anti-aircraft screening and shore bombardment roles, for which she earned two battle stars.

In her second career she served extensively in the Pacific, playing a prominent role in the Vietnam War, including participation in the evacuation of Saigon.

[1] Following shakedown, Oklahoma City transited the Panama Canal and reported to Commander Cruisers Pacific Fleet (ComCruPac) for duty, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 2 May 1945.

[1] On 7 March 1957, Oklahoma City arrived at the Bethlehem Steel Corp. Pacific Coast Yard, San Francisco, where conversion to a Galveston-class guided missile light cruiser commenced on 21 May, her hull classification and number being changed two days later to CLG-5.

[1] During her shakedown training, Oklahoma City became the first combatant unit of the US Pacific Fleet to fire a Talos guided missile successfully.

She then returned to Long Beach, California, on 12 June 1962, and spent the next several months conducting local training operations and upkeep work.

[1] In early 1964, Oklahoma City began refresher training in Southern California waters to prepare for a lengthy deployment, then departed for Yokosuka where she arrived on 7 July, to assume her duties again as 7th Fleet flagship.

When the level of hostilities increased, she began to spend more and more time in the South China Sea and eventually participated in operations "Piranha", "Double Eagle", "Deckhouse IV", and "Hastings II."

After serving as 7th Fleet flagship for two and one-half years, Oklahoma City returned to San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard on 15 December 1966, for an overhaul.

[1] Following her yard period, she began refresher training in the Southern California operating area in July 1967, and continued those exercises and intermittent calls to West Coast ports until she deployed again to the Western Pacific (WestPac) 7 November 1968.

En route to Okinawa, Oklahoma City experienced a drop in chemical readings in number 4 boiler caused by a leak in tube Y-36.

Van Bay made two passes on the cruiser, having overshot his target on the first run, dropped his two bombs near Oklahoma City, but caused only light damage.

Oklahoma City was decommissioned on 15 December 1979, and remained in the Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay until 9 January 1999, when she was towed to Pearl Harbor, where some usable material was donated for use in outfitting the battleship Missouri as a museum ship.

After being used as a target for air-launched missiles she was hit during Tandem Thrust '99 exercise southwest of Guam by torpedoes from the South Korean submarine Lee Chun, broke in two and sank on 27 March 1999.