She entered Ulithi in the Western Carolines on 1 June and, after three days in the anchorage, put to sea with Bon Homme Richard, Oklahoma City, Moale, and Ringgold to rendezvous with Task Force 38.

While TG 38.1 aircraft bombed and strafed the airfield on Minami Daito, the ships in the screen, Topeka among them, moved in and took the other installations under fire.

[1] After spending the latter half of June at Leyte for relaxation and replenishment, the light cruiser returned to sea on 1 July with TF 38 for the final six-week carrier sweep of the Japanese home islands.

On the night of the latter date, Topeka had another opportunity to strike the enemy directly when she joined Atlanta, Duluth, Oklahoma City, and the destroyers of DesRon 62 in an antishipping sweep of the entrance to Sagami Nada near the sea approaches to Tokyo.

During that sweep, she fired her guns at Japanese installations located on Nojima Zaki, the point of land which marks the eastern terminus of the entrance into Sagami Nada.

Completing another replenishment retirement from 19 to 23 July, the task force resumed its air raids on central Japan with two extensive forays against shipping in the Inland Sea on the 24th and 28th, respectively.

Those raids, launched on 9–10 August, proved eminently successful, wiping out what was later learned to be the transportation for 2,000 shock troops being assembled for a one-way, suicide mission to destroy the B-29 Superfortress bases on Tinian.

The carrier planes paid return visits to Tokyo on the 12th–13th and were taking off to repeat those attacks when a message arrived on the 15th, telling of Japan's capitulation.

She reached Yokosuka on the 24th and began duty supporting American occupation forces in Japan, China, and in the Central Pacific islands.

During that tour of duty, which lasted until the following fall, she called at Sasebo, Japan, Tsingtao and Shanghai in China; Manila in the Philippines; and Guam in the Mariana Islands.

[1] Early in 1957, Topeka was towed from San Francisco to the New York Naval Shipyard, which she entered on 15 April to begin conversion to a Providence-class guided missile light cruiser.

The removal of these guns made room for the installation of her twin Terrier surface-to-air missile launcher and related ancillary equipment.

From August to October, the refurbished cruiser conducted shakedown training in the southern California operating area and then reported for duty at her home port, Long Beach.

During the ensuing three years, Topeka alternated two peacetime deployments to the western Pacific with repair periods and local operations on the west coast.

Her two tours in the Orient were characterized by visits to such places as Hong Kong, the Philippines, Okinawa, and a number of ports in Japan as well as exercises with other ships of the 7th Fleet and of Allied navies.

For the next 12 months, she viewed the developing war from afar-operating out of west coast ports, undergoing repairs and modifications, and conducting exercises with the 1st Fleet.

[1] On 29 November 1965, however, she headed back to the western Pacific for the first deployment during which her primary mission was to support the American and South Vietnamese forces fighting the communists.

She stopped at Norfolk, Virginia, on 12–13 August to embark the Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 12, and his staff and then sailed for Palma de Majorca on the 14th.

In late September and early October, the warship participated in NATO exercise Eager Beaver, conducted in the eastern end of the Mediterranean.

After arriving at her destination on 21 March, Topeka remained in port for upkeep until 6 May, when she returned to sea for refresher training at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and France, as well as the islands of Malta, Crete, and Majorca, provided her with interesting ports of call.