[1] During its short-lived career, it was one of two squadrons assigned in the U.S. Navy to operate the ES-3A Shadow, which was a specialised version of the S-3 Viking used for over-horizon tracking and electronic intelligence.

Before this, VQ-5 was established on 15 August of that year at NAS Agana, Guam, receiving their first 2 S-3A Vikings for pilot and crew training on 10 November 1991.

[7][5] Other deployments to carriers in the following years included CVW-14 and CVW-11 on board the Carl Vinson,[8] Nimitz as part of CVW-9,[9] Abraham Lincoln with CVW-11 and CVW-14[10] and the Constellation with CVW-2.

[11] In 1998, VQ-5 made their last cruise ever as Detachment C deployed with the Carl Vinson and CVW-11 during Operation Desert Fox[1] before returning in May 1999.

In June 1999, a ceremony was held for the decommissioning of the squadron although they were officially inactivated on 31 July 1999.