Seventh Fleet. She returned to her home port on 20 October 1964 and was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her deployment. Operations and exercises along the west coast, from San Diego to Bangor, Washington, occupied the submarine for the next 25 months. On 27 November 1966, Sculpin stood out of San Diego for Naha and another tour with the Seventh Fleet. She returned to her home port on 11 May 1967 and began conducting local operations. The submarine had an extended training cruise from 27 July to 26 October and, on 11 November, gave a demonstration dive for President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson. On 31 December, Sculpin was notified that she was due for drydock and overhaul at Puget Sound, and she sailed for that destination on 2 January 1968. This was Sculpin'''s first major overhaul and refueling since commissioning, seven years before, and she was in drydock from 30 January 1968 to 22 January 1969. Sea trials and training lasted until 26 July when she sailed to Pearl Harbor on a shakedown training cruise. She returned to the West Coast on 22 August and began an upkeep period at San Diego which lasted until 8 September. The submarine operated along the California coast until 6 February 1970 when she got underway for Pearl Harbor and deployment to the western Pacific. 1970sSculpin sailed from Pearl Harbor on 21 February and entered Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 6 March. She also visited Subic Bay, Hong Kong, and Yokosuka before returning to San Diego on 21 August. She conducted local operations until 4 January 1971 when she began a three-month restricted availability period at Mare Island. The yard work was completed on 16 April, and the submarine returned to San Diego. The only interruption of her schedule came in October when she sailed to Puget Sound to have her bottom sand blasted and painted.Sculpin returned to San Diego on 13 November 1971 and began preparing for a secret deployment to track gun smuggling trawlers in the South China Sea. The deployment began on 5 January 1972 and on 10 April 1972 Sculpin lay in wait south of the Chinese island of Hainan. After having spotted its target the Sculpin followed the smugglers for 2,500 miles to the Southern coasts of South Vietnam, where on 24 April a South Vietnamese destroyer escort under the direction of Sculpin sank the Chinese