He attended the naval flight school at Pensacola, Florida, and Corpus Christi, Texas, and subsequently reported for duty with Attack Squadron 153 on board USS Coral Sea.

[3][4] Since completing shakedown in the spring of 1970, Roark a unit of DesRon 21, conducted training operations out of her homeport of San Diego, California, until the end of the year.

After stopping at Pearl Harbor and refueling at Midway Island, Roark suffered a fire in her engine room.

She remained in the western Pacific until July, when she started for home, arriving in San Diego, California, on 10 August.

As of summer 1984 USS Roark was homeported in San Diego but was assigned to Destroyer Squadron Nine out of Naval Station Long Beach.