She then conducted her shakedown cruise to Callao and Lima, Peru; Balboa, Panama Canal Zone; and Acapulco, Mexico, before she deployed to the Western Pacific (WestPac) for the first time in the early spring of 1962.

As American forces became increasingly involved in the Vietnam War, escalating from an advisory capacity to active combat, the Navy's role in Vietnamese coastal waters expanded.

En route to the Hawaiian Islands, she participated in Operation Sailor Hat, a special blast test to determine deficiencies in modern ship construction, and arrived home at San Diego on 26 June.

This exercise dealt with air control intercept tactics and antiaircraft warfare (AAA) measures to prepare the ship for her upcoming deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin, off Vietnam.

For the next month, under the command of Stanley Thomas Counts,[2] she deployed with USS Wiltsie (DD-716), keeping on the alert to spot downed pilots and to direct friendly helicopters to the rescue.

Departing San Diego on 5 September 1968, Towers made stops at Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay before arriving off the I Corps tactical zone to commence "Sea Dragon" operations.

[1] While escorting and screening New Jersey, Towers knocked out two artillery and three antiaircraft gun sites; destroyed 55 meters of trenches; sank two logistics craft; set off 19 secondary explosions; and killed an estimated 10 enemy soldiers.

[1] Following upkeep at Subic Bay, she planeguarded on "Yankee Station" for USS Constellation and returned to the I Corps operating zone for urgent gunfire support duties.

Departing Japanese waters on 21 February, Towers soon headed east and brought this WestPac deployment to a close when she sailed into San Diego harbor on 4 March 1969.

Gunnery exercises, underway training evolutions (with emphasis on ASW and AAW tactics); plane-guarding for Midway; and an upkeep and inport period all followed as the ship prepared for her upcoming WestPac deployment.

During the voyage from the west coast to the South China Sea, the ship assisted in the rescue of six crewmen from a downed B-52 Stratofortress near Guam and received a commendation from the United States Secretary of the Navy.

[1] A visit to Hong Kong for needed rest and recreation for her crew soon followed, and an upkeep period at Subic Bay preceded the ship's return to Vietnamese waters on 21 October.

The "Vietnamization" plan placed the burden of self-defense on the shoulders of the South Vietnamese, as American land, sea, and air forces were withdrawn from combat in January and February 1973.

[citation needed] Towers then performed an extended cruise through the busy Strait of Malacca into the Indian Ocean, with port calls to Singapore, Colombo, Sri Lanka and Karachi, Pakistan.

Towers last significant operations at sea for the year occurred during the period 12 to 16 September when she conducted naval gunfire support exercises on the range at San Clemente Island.

[1] Post-availability trials commenced on 26 January 1978, and Towers spent the next nine months evaluating her radar detection and tracking system during numerous at-sea operations for that purpose.

Concluding operations on 14 May, she slowly made her way home, visiting Thailand, Singapore, and Subic Bay, as well as rescuing 138 Vietnamese refugees from three small craft in the South China Sea before putting into Yokosuka on 11 June.

Less than a month later, Towers was on hand for another rescue on 4 July, this time picking up 26 survivors from a South Korean freighter that had gone down in bad weather 25 miles east of Hong Kong.

Maintenance problems hampered the warship over the next few months, but the guided missile destroyer managed to conduct multiple training evolutions with two aircraft carrier battle groups as they transited the area.

After a cruise to Okinawa and Hong Kong later in the month, Towers joined carrier Midway and the rest of Battle Group Alpha for an operational "tune-up" prior to Exercise Team Spirit '82 in mid-March.

Unfortunately, during the afternoon watch on 2 March, while en route to Chinhae, Korea, a ruptured steam line in number one fire room inflicted serious injuries on FNs Pino and Jones and BT2 Dyer; all were med-evaced by helicopter to Midway.

Following more battle group operations, the ship returned to Chinhae for a Nuclear Technical Proficiency Inspection (23–27 March), thereafter participating in FleetEx 83-1, a major northern Pacific exercise involving carriers Enterprise, Coral Sea and Midway.

Conducting her first sea trials after the overhaul (4–7 September), she departed Yokosuka ahead of schedule on 17 October for two months of combat systems certification in the Hawaiian operating areas.

Subsequent to Cobra Gold, the guided missile destroyer steamed to the North Arabian Sea via Singapore and Diego Garcia, arriving on station on 4 August.

After a stop at Subic Bay in November, the warship sailed to the Persian Gulf, beginning the new year moored alongside the destroyer tender Cape Cod for availability at Masirah, Oman.

After a stop at Pattaya Beach, Thailand, in mid-February, Towers accomplished her fifth rescue of Vietnamese refugees on 29 February, picking up 126 survivors of a "grossly overloaded" boat with a broken-down engine and no food or water.

Continuing on home, the guided missile destroyer stopped at Subic Bay and Hong Kong before participating in the annual bilateral exercise Team Spirit 87 off South Korea (16 March – 3 April).

While in transit to Pattaya Beach in late August, however, the warship received the news that Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, USMC, kidnapped by Iranian-supported terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon, the previous February, had been murdered.

[1] Although the guided missile destroyer continued intermittent local operations in early 1990, Towers received word of future decommissioning and began inactivation inspections in April.

Plans to convert her into a barge were cancelled, and ultimately the guided-missile frigate USS Sides (FFG-14) sank her as a target in a fleet training exercise (SinkEx) off the coast of California on 9 October 2002.