[6] Truxtun was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden in New Jersey on 17 June 1963, launched on 19 December 1964 by Mrs. Kirby H. Tappan and Mrs. Scott Umsted, and commissioned on 27 May 1967.

Originally planned to be a Belknap-class destroyer leader, she was extensively modified in her design to become the fourth nuclear-powered ship in the Navy, and she is considered to be her own class.

Five days later, Truxtun and the aircraft carrier Enterprise departed Sasebo and headed for the Sea of Japan in response to North Korea's seizure of the American ship Pueblo.

In mid-November, Truxtun became an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) school ship, and she hosted training student sailors in the techniques of hunting submarines.

Again, she spent much of her deployment cruising along the coast of embattled Vietnam, taking time periodically to make port calls at Hong Kong, Singapore, and Subic Bay.

However, in addition to acting as plane guard for carriers and standing duty as PIRAZ and a search and rescue ship, she also served as a peacetime aerial reconnaissance protective (PAPRO) picket in the Sea of Japan and participated in the Taiwan Strait patrol.

Following one more period of exercises at sea late in October, she entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in preparation for a three-month restricted availability which began on 2 November 1970.

[citation needed] Truxtun's yard work was completed in mid-January, she then conducted type training and ASW exercises before preparing to deploy to the western Pacific once more.

During that deployment, Truxtun returned to her familiar routine along the coast of Vietnam, standing PIRAZ picket duty and conducting exercises and tests.

Through the end of September, Truxtun received visitors on board and conducted drills to improve and to test her missile and gunnery marksmanship.

From 18 November to 9 December, the ship conducted post-availability dock trials and type training as well as testing the newly installed LAMPS system.

[citation needed] On 13 July, she departed Long Beach with HMNZS Canterbury, bound for the western Pacific and for her most eventful series of line periods off Vietnam.

By the end of her deployment, Truxtun was credited with directing fighter intercepts which resulted in the destruction of eleven North Vietnamese MiGs and rescue of three downed American pilots, earning the ship her second Navy Unit Commendation.

After two weeks of training in the Hawaiian Islands, she continued her voyage west on 16 August; and, after a somewhat circuitous cruise that took her to Wellington in New Zealand and Melbourne in Australia, Truxtun arrived in Subic Bay on 25 September.

En route, she and her travelling companions conducted exercise "Merlion III" with units of the Singapore Armed Forces on 25 January.

She spent the month of November at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard undergoing repairs to her nuclear power plant and returned to San Diego on 4 December.

[citation needed] The first three months of 1978 were spent in operations off the west coast in preparation for Truxtun's forthcoming deployment to the western Pacific.

The ship departed San Diego on 4 April and spent the next six months in operations with the 7th Fleet which took her as far west as the Arabian Sea and as far south as Perth, Australia.

On 26 February 1980, Truxtun departed San Diego, CA for her eighth WESTPAC (western Pacific) deployment, this time as part of the USS Constellation Battle Group.

Toward the end of this deployment, which was extended due to operational requirements, Truxtun also made port calls in Subic Bay, Philippines, Pattaya Beach, Thailand and Wellington, New Zealand.

On 12 June 1982, Truxtun returned to her homeport of San Diego to begin preparations for her upcoming Complex Overhaul (COH) in Washington State.

[citation needed] On 15 January 1986 Truxtun left on her tenth WESTPAC, this time serving as the Anti-Air Warfare Commander for Battle Group FOXTROT.

After almost two months of operations in the Mediterranean, the three nuclear-powered ships were directed home by way of Gibraltar, the Cape of Good Hope, Western Australia, the Philippines and Hawaii.

Upon return from deployment, Truxtun spent 9 months in Puget Sound Naval Shipyard undergoing a Drydocking Selective Restricted Availability.

Truxtun also spent a considerable amount of time steaming independently of the battle group conducting various operations and tasks, including a freedom of movement exercise through the Maldives.

Port calls included Pearl Harbor Hawaii; Pusan, Korea; Subic Bay, Philippines; Singapore; Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory; Perth, Australia and Hong Kong.

Truxtun also served as the Commander, United States Mine Counter-Measure Group One flagship during minesweeping operations off the coastal waters of Kuwait.

[citation needed] After a short upkeep period in Bremerton, Truxtun began a two-month Counter-Narcotic mini-deployment off the coasts of Mexico and Central America, which ended in June 1992.

On 22 April Truxtun was detached from Battle Group operations and proceeded to the Red Sea to enforce United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iraq by boarding vessels bound for the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

Originally assigned to escort the tow ships for two defueled nuclear submarines from Rodman, Panama to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the orders were changed on short notice and Truxtun chopped (change of operational control) to Commander, Joint Task Force Four to conduct Counter-Narcotic operations for a second tour in the War on Drugs.