On 4 February 1953 while passing under the Golden Gate Bridge on board USS Princeton and on their way back to Korea, VF-837 was redesignated VF-154.

VF-154 dropped 470 tons of bombs and expended 1,500,000 rounds of ammunition in Korea and on 15 June 1953 VF-154 flew 48 sorties on a single day, setting a record for a Navy squadron.

The new insignia was a silver Crusader knight on a black field with 2 F-8 divisions (4 plane formations) crossing in the background.

Because of the patch design, and the arrival of new Crusaders configured for night operations, the squadron unofficially became known as the "Black Knights."

In 1965 the squadron deployed as part of Carrier Air Wing 15 on board USS Coral Sea to the Vietnam War.

After that yearly combat cruises followed and VF-154 soon transitioned to the F-4 Phantom II and became part of Carrier Air Wing 2, where it remained until 1980.

During 1968–69, 1969–70 and 1970–71 WestPac cruises aboard USS Ranger, VF-154 was equipped with the F-4J Phantom II which used the Westinghouse AWG-10 RADAR system.

Beginning with their 16 November 1972 deployment on board USS Ranger, VF-154 participated in some of the last US Navy strikes of the war, they undertook the squadrons final Vietnam cruise, and they were awarded the Clifton Award – recognizing them as the best fighter squadron in the United States Navy.

Several further cruises on board USS Constellation followed, with one taking place in 1987, during this cruise they operated in the Persian Gulf, intercepting Iranian P-3s, providing air cover for reflagged tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz during Operation Earnest Will, and conducting movements in the Gulf of Oman, at the so-called "Gonzo" station.

The 1995 Chinese military exercises once raised tension in the region and signalled China's opposition to Taiwan's Presidential Election.

With VF-154's F-14As severely showing their age the squadron swapped six of its worst airframes for six from VF-213, which had visited on board USS Kitty Hawk, a few weeks earlier.

During the transfer, USS Kitty Hawk picked up the "Don't Tread On Me" Jack – signifying her as the oldest ship on active service.

During the four months of cruise the squadron took part in Tandem Thrust '99, an unexpected Persian Gulf period (due to USS Theodore Roosevelt being called to cover events in Kosovo), plus port visits to Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

Both landings took place in the Persian Gulf, where USS Kitty Hawk and CVW-5 completed 5,426 sorties, including 1,356 combat missions over Southern Iraq.

USS Kitty Hawk arrived on station on 26 February and CVW-5 was chosen to be the dedicated Close Air Support wing.

The aircrews would fly daily missions and in one 48-hour period the VF-154 detachment flew 14 sorties totalling 100 hours of flight time.

The crews at Al Udeid flew more than 300 combat hours and delivered 50 000 pounds of ordnance, (98 GBU-12s) during the 21-day stay at the airbase.

The remaining F-14s on USS Kitty Hawk, piloted mostly by junior officers, expended 246 GBU-12s, ten GBU-16s and four GBU-10s during 27 days of combat.

By the end of the war, VF-154 had dropped 358 laser-guided bombs, buddy-lased 65 more and passed target coordinates for 32 JDAMs in 286 sorties.

A month later, VF-154 was redesignated VFA-154 at its new home at NAS Lemoore, California, and began transitioning to the Navy's newest strike fighter, the F/A-18F Super Hornet.

The squadron completed its first Super Hornet cruise in the summer of 2005 aboard USS Carl Vinson, part of Carrier Air Wing 9 supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In March VFA-154 found itself in the familiar waters of Northern Japan supporting the tsunami relief efforts as part of Operation Tomodachi.