Recommissioned on 18 March 1930, "Roper" resumed operations in the Pacific. Operating primarily in the southern California area, in active and rotating reserve squadrons, for the next seven years, she deployed to Panama, to Hawaii and to the Caribbean for fleet problems and maneuvers in 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1936. During 1933, Lieutenant, junior grade Robert A. Heinlein, who would later gain fame as a science fiction author, transferred aboard "Roper". In 1934 he was promoted to lieutenant, then "invalided out," permanently disabled by tuberculosis. During January and February 1936, "Roper" moved north for operations in Alaskan waters.