in May for upkeep was followed by liberty visits to Hong Kong and Japan before returning to San Diego on 30 June. 1983 deployment On 20 July 1983 The New York Times reported that the Fife along with seven other vessels in the Battle Group left San Diego on Friday 15 July 1983 and were headed for the western Pacific when they were rerouted and ordered to steam for Central America to conduct training and flight operations in areas off the coasts of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras as part of major military exercises planned for that summer. Besides the Ranger, the battle group is composed of the cruiser , the guided missile destroyer , the destroyers and Fife, the frigate , the oiler and the support ship . Fife's second overseas deployment began with "READIEX 83-4." Departing with the USS Ranger battlegroup on 15 July for the Persian Gulf, she alternated carrier escort duties with surveillance operations in the Gulf of Aden. While operating with the Ranger on 17 November, the Soviet guided missile frigate approached the warships in what the US ships saw as a violation of international agreements for preventing collisions at sea. Fife suffered only minor damage from the resulting collision with Razyashchiy. In December, Fife sailed south for a port visit in Mombassa, Kenya. While there, a cyclone passing over Agalega in the Mauritius Islands caused massive destruction. Fife, along with her SH-2F Seasprite helicopter, provided aid transferring food and water ashore. The Fife crew and the Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron, Light 37, Detachment 3 were awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal for their service in aid to the Agalaga inhabitants. During the return trip north, Fife intercepted the Soviet aircraft carrier Novorossiysk and performed a brief period of surveillance before rendezvousing again with the Ranger battlegroup. Relieved by the battlegroup in January, the warships turned for home, arriving in San Diego on 29 February 1984. The following sixteen months were spent preparing for her next overseas deployment, with the warship's time split between local training operations, a series of overhaul periods at Long Beach (where she received new propeller blades, weapons, and electronics), and various propulsion plant inspections and pre-deployment refresher exercises. Following a Harpoon firing exercise in June 1985, the destroyer sailed for the Far East on 24 July. Following a brief stop in Subic Bay, the destroyer continued west through the Strait of Malacca