On 15 November 1946 their designation was changed to VF-10A and was part of Carrier Air Group 9 on board USS Philippine Sea and made their first deployment to the Mediterranean between February and June 1948.

Before the cruise VF-10A had shifted to their new shore base of Naval Auxiliary Air Station Charlestown, Rhode Island.

On 12 August 1948 the squadron became VF-92 and became part of CAG-7, moving to Naval Air Station Quonset Point and their final re-designation happened on 15 January 1950 when they became VF-74.

[1] With the Korean War raging, CAG-7 transferred to the Pacific in May 1952 and conducted a combat cruise on board USS Bon Homme Richard.

Their first Vietnam cruise aboard Forrestal was marked by tragedy on 29 July 1967, when an ordnance explosion on the flight deck caused a massive ensuing fire.

On 7 October, members of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) hijacked the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro.

When the ship arrived in Syria the hijackers made their way to Egypt where they were promised free passage to Tunisia in return for the hostages' lives.

After identifying themselves to the airliner's pilot, the American planes eventually were able to convince the 737 to land at the NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily.

On 22 September 1987, an F-14A of VF-74 mistakenly shot down a United States Air Force RF-4C Phantom II of the 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing over the Mediterranean during the NATO exercise "Display Determination 87".

The investigation that followed determined that the F-14 pilot, LTJG Timothy "Smoke" Dorsey, made a lapse in judgement when misinterpreting the "Red and Free" clearance as permission to open fire despite other participants of the exercise being aware of the phrase's usage to signal a simulated shootdown.

On 14 September, VF-74 F-14s flew 1,700 nautical miles (3,100 km) from Saratoga operating in the Adriatic Sea, dropping ordnance on the Wadi Natrun target range in Egypt.

On 20 January 1994, VF-74 took part in the last deployment, this time to Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in February where VF-74 launched seven air-to-air missiles with 100% success rate.