Following stops at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and after transiting the Panama Canal, she arrived at Long Beach, California, her home port, on 19 July.

After adjusting her load at Subic, she got underway for her first line period in support of the combat ships operating off the coast of Vietnam.

During her first deployment to the western Pacific, Wichita made five separate line swings to replenish the ships operating on Yankee Station.

She remained in the Indian Ocean until early January 1972 at which time all ships returned to the operating area off the coast of Vietnam.

She made one more line swing to Yankee Station in February and then headed back to Long Beach, where she arrived on 31 March.

Wichita remained in the United States only long enough to allow for the usual month of post-deployment leave and upkeep and to conduct some major repairs at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.

She also made frequent stops at Subic Bay to load supplies and conduct repairs as well as liberty calls at Hong Kong and at Sattahip, Thailand.

She provided routine support for the 7th Fleet ships and a fast carrier task force operating in the Indian Ocean.

Following trials out of Long Beach, a voyage to Acapulco, Mexico (Cinco de Mayo) (5 May 1975), and refresher training out of San Diego, Wichita finally arrived in her new home port on 4 April.

While participating in the initial phases of RIMPAC 78, the ship visited Pearl Harbor on 5 and 6 April 1978 to take on stores and to give her crew a brief liberty.

Such activities as these occupied her time until 2 November when she entered the Triple A Shipyard at Hunters Point, California, to begin a nine-month overhaul.

In 1980, the ship completed a WestPac that included ports of calls in Hawaii, Subic Bay, Philippines, Singapore, Diego Garcia, Misera Oman and Pattaya Beach, Thailand.

The last port call was to Pattaya Beach and while transiting the Gulf of Thailand, the ship encountered a boat full of Vietnamese refugees being robbed by Thai pirates.

On 20 July 1983 the New York Times reported that the Wichita along with seven other vessels in the Carrier Ranger Battle Group left San Diego on Friday 15 July 1983 and were headed for the western Pacific when they were rerouted and ordered to steam for Central America to conduct training and flight operations in areas off the coasts of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras as part of major military exercises planned for that summer.

Later in the deployment, because of that damage, the Wichita spent 3 weeks in Subic Bay for repairs and was detached from the Ranger Battlegroup which continued on into the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.

The ports of call in the '83 deployment included, Naval Station Panama Canal, Pearl Harbor, Guam, Subic Bay, Singapore, Chin Hae Korea, Pattaya Beach Thailand, Hong Kong, Yokosuka and Nagasaki Japan.

Ports of call include Hong Kong in October, Philippines (Subic Bay) in November, Pattaya Beach, Thailand and Singapore in December, Diego Garcia in January, a working port of call in Muscat, Oman in February (five times), Ko Phuket, Thailand, and another visit to Subic Bay in February and a final port of call to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in March to clear customs and to pick up dependents for a tiger cruise back to the Naval Supply Center in Oakland, California.

During the deployment to Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, the Wichita hosted a complement of US Coast Guard personnel for drug-smuggling operations.

She was transferred to United States Maritime Administration on 18 December 1998 and laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California.