In mid-October 1967,
Richard L. Page moved from Boston to her homeport of
Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, then sailed south for shakedown exercises in the
Caribbean. On 21 December 1967, she returned to Newport and, after post-shakedown availability, began operations with Escort Squadron SIX (CORTRON 6). Into 1968, she operated in the western Atlantic and, in the fall, she deployed to the Mediterranean for duty with the
6th Fleet. On that duty until 10 February 1969, she returned to Newport on 18 February and in March 1969 resumed operations with the
2nd Fleet. On 1 July 1969, she relieved as
flagship of Destroyer Division ONE TWO(DESRON 12), then conducted exercises in the Caribbean.
Richard L. Page spent all of 1971 and the first eight months of 1972 in port at Newport and in operations along the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean. In mid-August 1972, she steamed out of Newport, bound for an extended deployment with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. From 1973 to 1975, she was forward deployed to Athens, Greece, and on 30 June 1975 she was reclassified as a guided missile frigate with the new hull number of FFG-5. Returning from Europe,
Richard L. Page underwent a year-long modernization overhaul, returning to the Atlantic Fleet and a new homeport of
Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia in 1976. Over the next four years, she repeatedly deployed to the Mediterranean, Middle East, the eastern coast of Africa, and Northern Europe, interspersed with brief periods in her stateside homeport of Norfolk. During this same four-year period, in 1979,
Richard L. Page was the recipient of both the
Battle Efficiency "E" that year from Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, designating her as the best guided missile frigate among all guided missile frigates in the
U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and the
Battenberg Cup, designating her as the surface warship with the highest operational excellence of any warship in the entire
U.S. Atlantic Fleet. In early 1980, she temporarily relocated to
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where she received various sonar and electronic warfare system upgrades before returning to the Fleet in August 1980. She then completed independent operations in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic, and following completion of Refresher Training (REFTRA) at
Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, returned to Norfolk to participate in Exercise SOLID SHIELD 81. During the rest of 1981, she operated as a unit of
Standing Naval Force Atlantic. Deploying in late 1983, she joined the carrier battle group, deploying to both the Mediterranean, where she supported both the
U.S. 6th Fleet and multinational peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, and to the North Atlantic and Norway as part of
Cold War operations as a deterrent force to the
Red Banner Northern Fleet of the
Soviet Navy. Following her return to Norfolk in 1984,
Richard L. Page underwent another yard period overhaul at Bath Iron Works in Maine before returning to the Fleet from 1986. In 1987, with the acquisition of the newer '''
Oliver Hazard Perry class
guided missile frigates nearly complete, a decision was made to retire the entire Brooke class''' of frigates from the U.S. Navy in 1988 and 1989 and earmark them for transfer to a foreign navy. ==Fate==