arrived in Norfolk on 29 March and began three weeks of tests and qualifications with the DASH system. The first destroyer escort to receive DASH, Van Voorhis completed her qualification trials in April and returned to her home port on 21 April. The ship continued to work out of Newport through the following four and one-half years, primarily conducting operations in the western Atlantic. She sharpened her anti-submarine warfare skills constantly as she participated in numerous exercises along the entire North American coastline and in the Caribbean. In August 1966, Van Voorhis rendezvoused with the destroyer escort , guided missile frigate , and submarine off Trinidad to participate in Operation "Unitas VII" through November. In 1966 and 1967, the warship made cruises around South America in which she visited a number of South American ports and participated in bilateral and multi-lateral exercises with warships of various South American countries. During the first five months of 1969, her sphere of operations was centered around Florida and the West Indies. In June, she returned to Newport for a short time before resuming operations in the Caribbean in July. Through the fall and winter of 1969, she alternated between Newport and the Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Florida. 1970–1971 and fate In January 1970, Van Voorhis began preparations for conversion to a research and development platform to test the Interim Towed Array Surveillance System (ITASS). Late that month, her DASH equipment was removed to make room for the ITASS submarine detection gear. On 9 February, she entered the Bethlehem Steel Shipyards in East Boston to begin the actual conversion. Over the next month, her new equipment was installed, and her DASH hangar was modified to provide a berthing area for the additional crew members necessitated by the ITASS. Van Voorhis completed the conversion early in March and, for the next four months, she conducted a series of tests on the experimental equipment in the vicinity of Guantanamo Bay, then in the Tongue of the ocean off Eleuthera in the Bahamas. From late June to late August, she prepared to deploy to the Mediterranean. She departed Newport on 26 August 1970, passed through the Straits of Gibraltar on 6 September, and arrived at Naples on 9 September. The destroyer escort operated with the 6th Fleet, conducting surveillance patrols with her new ITASS gear until near the end of November. During the intervening two