USS Badger (FF-1071) - 1980s

1980s

Badger remained at Subic less than a week; she got underway on the 21st, bound for Hawaii in company with Brewton and Rathburne. They stopped for fuel at Guam and Midway before arriving back in Pearl Harbor on 4 October. Following post-deployment standdown, the frigate resumed local operations out of Pearl late in December. On 7 January 1980, Badger began a seven-week availability at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Her repairs were completed on 27 February, and she began sea trials in the local area. Over the next six months, Badger went through the usual trials and certifications as well as all types of exercises and drills. In mid-August, she began pre-deployment training with a carrier task group formed around USS Ranger (CVA-61). That training complete, the task group returned to Pearl Harbor on 23 September for a final liberty call before heading for the Far East.

On 26 September, Badger departed Pearl Harbor in company with the Ranger task group bound for an extended assignment with the 7th Fleet. The warships entered Subic Bay on 15 October, and Badger began a 10-day availability. Late in the evening of the 26th, she put to sea to rendezvous with the rest of the Ranger task group. On 30 October, the ships began the transit of the Strait of Malacca and, the next day, entered the Indian Ocean, the appearance of this task group in the Indian Ocean reflecting the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran by Iranian militants almost a year before and the holding of embassy personnel as hostages. Though the task group never entered the Persian Gulf, its training evolutions kept it within rapid steaming time of that troubled area. Badger and the task group remained in the Indian Ocean through the end of the year and into 1981 conducting intensive training of all types including multilateral exercises with Allied navies.