One of the U.S. Navy's premiere anti-submarine warfare platforms, "Gary" routinely deploys for bilateral anti-submarine exercises and real-world contingency operations in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, she displayed her versatility, deploying to the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Aden and Red Sea, conducting carrier escort and air defense, intelligence gathering and presence missions, terrorist interdiction operations, rescue at sea and escorted dozens of merchant and military supply ships through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb strait. From 1999 to 2007, "Gary" was forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, as part of the United States Seventh Fleet. During 2007, "Gary" completed a hull-swap/crew-swap with and to be home-ported at Naval Station, San Diego.