When not deployed with the 6th Fleet, she returned to operations along the eastern seaboard and trained in the Caribbean. 1972–1975 On 16 June 1972, Suribachi negotiated the locks of the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet. Ten days later, she arrived in Pearl Harbor. After an overnight stop, she continued on to the operating area off the coast of South Vietnam. From mid-July 1972 until 8 February 1973, Suribachi rearmed and refueled the combat units of the 7th Fleet. She departed from the combat zone fairly frequently for port period at Subic Bay in the Philippines and for a visit each to Hong Kong and Sattahip, Thailand. Her periods away from the action zone were brief in every instance, three or four days at most. On 8 February 1973, she entered port at Subic Bay and, on the 16th, sailed for Yokosuka, Japan, en route back to the United States. Following stops there and at Pearl Harbor, Suribachi re-transited the Panama Canal in mid-March and rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. After returning to the east coast, Suribachi resumed her old schedule of operations in the western Atlantic-Caribbean area alternating with cruises with the 6th Fleet. She made one Mediterranean deployment, from January to June 1974, and was operating with the 2nd Fleet as of March 1975. 1975–1994 The Suribachi's duty port was changed from Mayport, Florida to Naval Weapons Station Earle in Leonardo, New Jersey. The 'Bachi' was an ammunition supply ship that carried significant amounts of fuel oil, ammunition, and potentially nuclear ordnance, (a point that cannot be confirmed or denied) and as such the ship almost never traveled with the fleet, given the risk. The ship housed Seamen, Firemen, and Gunners Mates, but had no complement of Marines. The Suribachi's sister ship was the USS Nitro, AE-23, which was also stationed at NWS Earle. In 1978–79, the Suribachi was refitted in the Brooklyn Naval Yards. After a short stop in Earl, the "Bachi" went to Guantanamo for Sea Trials. In Early October 1983, while the Suribachi was en route from its home port in Leonardo, NJ (Naval Weapons Station Earle) to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for refresher training. Unbeknownst to most of the crew, her orders had been changed the night before pulling into "Gitmo". The Suribachi joined the USS Independence CV-62 task force including the USS Richmond K. Turner CG-20, USS Coontz DDG-40, USS Caron DD-970, USS