She conducted air operations, individual ship exercises, and final acceptance trials along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean Sea until 20 June 1958.

Noted artist Jack Coggins was commissioned by the United States Naval Institute to paint the new aircraft carrier; his artwork appeared on the cover of their Proceedings Magazine of July 1958.

Departing 3 January 1959 for final training in Hawaiian waters until 17 February, she next sailed as the flagship of Rear Admiral Henry H. Caldwell, Commander, Carrier Division Two, to join the Seventh Fleet.

Ranger continued air strikes on enemy targets inland until 13 April when a fuel line broke, ignited and engulfed her No.

She and her embarked Carrier Air Wing 14 received the Navy Unit Commendation for exceptionally meritorious service during combat operations in Southeast Asia from 10 January to 6 August 1966.

[4] From June until November, Ranger underwent a long and intensive period of training designed to make her fully combat ready.

During this time, the ship spent at least two extended periods on Yankee Station, the longest being 45 days, due to mechanical problems with the carrier that was to relieve her.

Initially, Ranger was to leave the line on Yankee Station for a week of R&R in Subic Bay while offloading supplies, then to Japan and on to Australia and home.

Finally leaving Yankee Station, Ranger made a fast three-day offload in Subic Bay and a two-day port call in Sasebo and back to Alameda, arriving 1 June.

Ranger spent the rest of the summer engaged in operations off the west coast, departing for her sixth WestPac cruise in late October 1970.

[8] During April, the three carriers assigned to Task Force 77 – Ranger, Kitty Hawk, and USS Hancock – provided a constant two-carrier posture on Yankee Station.

This had been delayed four months when one of the engines was disabled after Navy fireman E-3 Patrick Chenoweth was accused of dropping a heavy paint scraper into a main reduction gear, one of around two dozen acts of sabotage Ranger suffered between 7 June 1972 and 16 October 1972.

In an intensified version of Operation Linebacker, bombing of North Vietnam above the 20th parallel and reseeding of the mine fields were resumed, and concentrated strikes were carried out against surface-to-air missile and antiaircraft artillery sites, enemy army barracks, petroleum storage areas, Haiphong naval and shipyard areas, and railroad and truck stations.

These operations ended on 29 December when the North Vietnamese returned to the peace table; on 27 January 1973, the Vietnam cease-fire came into effect, and Oriskany, America, Enterprise, and Ranger, on Yankee Station, cancelled all combat sorties.

Over 1,900 people were evacuated; more than 370,000 pounds (170,000 kg) of relief supplies and 9,340 US gallons (35,400 L) of fuel were provided by Navy and Air Force helicopters.

[citation needed] On 21 February 1979, Ranger deployed for her 14th WestPac cruise, tentatively scheduled to cross the Indian Ocean to present a show of force during the strife between North and South Yemen, a mission she would not complete.

[11] While the large oil tanker was severely damaged, Ranger endured a significant gash in her bow, rendering two fuel tanks unusable.

[14] In September 1980, Ranger departed her homeport of San Diego for the 15th WestPac cruise and again crossed into the Indian Ocean via the Straits of Malacca, this time without incident.

[citation needed] Ranger proceeded to GONZO Station to continue the US Navy's show of force in the region during Iran hostage crisis, which at that point was in its tenth month.

[citation needed] On 20 March 1981, under the command of CAPT Dan Pedersen, Ranger rescued 138 Vietnamese boat people from the South China Sea and brought them to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Manila, Philippines.

[citation needed] One enlisted man was imprisoned for two months of a three-month sentence for dereliction of duty relating to the fire, but the Navy released him early and reprimanded four officers after an investigation in 1984.

[8] On 19 October 1987, Ranger took part in Operation Nimble Archer, an attack on two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf by US Navy forces.

[8] On 21 April 1992, in harmony with other World War II 50th-anniversary festivities, Ranger participated in the commemorative re-enactment of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, Japan.

Two World War II-era B-25 bombers were craned on board, and over 1,500 guests (including national, local and military media) were embarked to witness the two vintage aircraft travel down Ranger' flight deck and take off.

In June, Ranger made an historic port visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, in conjunction with her final phase of pre-deployment workups.

[8] While in the Persian Gulf, former Cold War adversaries became at-sea partners as Ranger, British, and French naval forces joined with the Russian guided missile destroyer Admiral Vinogradov for an exercise involving communication, maneuvering, and signaling drills.

Throughout Operations Southern Watch and Restore Hope, Ranger took 63 digital photographs which were sent by International Marine Satellite to the Navy Office of Information within hours of being taken.

[8] After the late 1980s defense cuts, Ranger did not undergo the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) modernization process as did her three sisters and the later Kitty Hawk-class ships, and by the early 1990s, her material condition was declining.

Both the outgoing Bush and incoming Clinton administrations recommended cuts to the defense budget, so the retirement of Ranger, along with her sisters Forrestal and Saratoga, was put forth.

[35] The scrapping process was completed on 1 November 2017, though more than five tons of historic items from the ship were preserved for display at the USS Lexington Museum.