In July, she held special trials and tests in the Puget Sound area and then returned to San Diego for type training.

She operated off the West Coast before entering the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for post-shakedown availability in October.

The nuclear submarine participated in local training operations, ordnance evaluation projects, and fleet exercises until entering the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in early January 1963 for a hull survey.

Sculpin was in Pearl Harbor, in early December, en route to the western Pacific, when defective piping forced her to sail back to Mare Island for repairs.

The submarine had an extended training cruise from 27 July to 26 October and, on 11 November, gave a demonstration dive for President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson.

On 31 December, Sculpin was notified that she was due for drydock and overhaul at Puget Sound, and she sailed for that destination on 2 January 1968.

The submarine operated along the California coast until 6 February 1970 when she got underway for Pearl Harbor and deployment to the western Pacific.

She conducted local operations until 4 January 1971 when she began a three-month restricted availability period at Mare Island.

Sculpin returned to San Diego on 13 November 1971 and began preparing for a secret deployment to track gun smuggling trawlers in the South China Sea.

The deployment began on 5 January 1972 and on 10 April 1972 Sculpin lay in wait south of the Chinese island of Hainan.

After leaving the yard in May, the submarine operated along the Pacific coast under the command of Captain James Joseph Pistotnik, until 12 November when it arrived at San Diego and began preparing for a deployment in early January 1974.

During the fall of that year, she participated in the Northern Wedding Exercises with a stop at Holy Loch Scotland for repairs.