Early in 1979, "Berkeley" helped to test and evaluate two new missile systems. In February, she had one of the early Tomahawk missiles test-fired at her (set to fly close by) to see if the incoming Tomahawk could be acquired; and, in April, she made eight evaluation launches of the Standard missile. After passing a combat systems readiness test in May, the warship then prepared for her first overseas deployment in almost two years. Departing San Diego on 8 August, the guided missile destroyer transited the Pacific as part of Destroyer Squadron 13 and in the company of a Canadian Destroyer Squadron and Oiler with stops in Pearl Harbor, Midway, (off Midway the destroyers practices ASW atop a Soviet submarine),Guam and Subic Bay, and arrived in Yokosuka on 1 September. There, she joined "Kitty Hawk" and put to sea for seven weeks of operations in the East China Sea. During this time, "Berkeley" also made port visits to Hong Kong and Subic Bay. On 22 October, following the assassination of South Korean President Park Chung Hee, the task group took up a position south of the peninsula. The crisis eased after a few weeks, and the task group resumed normal operations. On 10 November, the "Kitty Hawk" group steamed south for operations in the South China Sea. On 21 November, the warships received orders to proceed west in response to the takeover of the American embassy in Tehran, Iran. Arriving in the Indian Ocean on 5 December, the task group sailed to the Arabian Sea and took up a position south of the Iranian coast.