On 30 January 1976, "Berkeley" departed San Diego and set course for Hawaii on the first leg of the voyage to the Far East. Once at Pearl Harbor, however, the warship suffered several engineering failures which kept her in that port through February. Finally repaired in early March, she got underway on 12 March and, after a fuel stop at Guam, moored at Subic Bay on 1 April. Over the next three months, the guided missile destroyer conducted several "war-at-sea" exercises in the Philippines, including a missile firing exercise in late May and an ASW exercise with the frigates and in mid-June. Sailing north on 14 July, she visited Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and took part in Exercise "Sharkhunt XVI"—an ASW exercise with naval units from Taiwan—before returning to Subic Bay on 29 July. Underway again on 3 August, "Berkeley" carried out another missile exercise—knocking down one drone with two missiles fired—before sailing for home on 8 August. Following stops at Guam—where she received 10 days of tender availability—and at Pearl Harbor, the warship returned to San Diego on 6 September. Save for a brief two-week planeguard exercise with "Constellation" in early December, the guided-missile destroyer spent the remainder of the year in port.