The final cruise with the Skyray on Forrestal was January through August 1961 after the squadron had moved to NAS Oceana, Virginia.

In 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975: the squadron conducted four deployments to the Mediterranean Sea aboard USS Independence as part of Carrier Air Wing Seven, including a port call in Athens, Greece, when they had a political coup; air cover operations during the Yom Kippur War; and recovery of aircraft debris and bodies from TWA Flight 841 that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea after a terrorist bomb exploded in the hold.

The squadron deployed aboard USS America in late 1982 to participate in the NATO Exercise Northern Wedding that required high temperature operations in the heavy seas north of the British Isles, garnering considerable attention from Soviet Tu-95D Bear reconnaissance aircraft.

The first Tomcat deployment with Carrier Air Wing One began in 1983 and took USS America through the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean.

Two VF-102 Tomcats, flying a routine TARPS mission over Somalia were fired upon by an SA-2 SAM site and AAA in April 1983.

In 1985, USS America participated in the NATO exercise Ocean Safari and again conducted operations in the challenging seas and low visibility conditions near the Arctic Circle and inside Vestfjord, Norway.

A month later VF-102 flew cover for US Navy and US Air Force bombers in Operation El Dorado Canyon.

The squadron's 1995–1996 Mediterranean cruise began with an emergency sortie to the Adriatic Sea to take part in Operation Deliberate Force.

Placement of U.S. ground forces in Bosnia, led to another America emergency sortie back to the Adriatic in December.

A port visit to Haifa, Israel was cut short late in November as the carrier battle group was ordered to the Persian Gulf in response to Saddam Hussein's barring UN weapon inspectors from carrying out their assigned tasks.

[2][3] In addition, as part of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group they were at sea for 159 consecutive days, breaking a 20-year-old record.

VFA-102 deployed to the Pacific Ocean aboard USS Kitty Hawk in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, taking part in several military exercises, including Orange Crush, Talisman Saber, Jasex, and Valiant Shield.