Trippe was the Navy's first destroyer-type ship to receive this later-widespread contribution to shipboard protection against air and missile attack.

In June the ship passed through the Panama Canal en route to Southeast Asian waters, where she provided Vietnam War aircraft carrier escort and naval gunfire support services during July and August.

Trippe then went to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf areas, visiting many ports in a region that would see increasing U.S. Navy activity in the coming decades.

On 19 April 1989, Trippe collided with fleet oiler Platte off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida resulting in a below the waterline tear in the hull and the smashing of the auxiliary diesel generator's exhaust vent, which rendered the ship completely powerless.

[3] A major lube oil fire occurred while at Naval Dock Crete in 2003 melting the superstructure and destroying the interior of the ship.