Local operations in the Hawaiian Islands occupied "Ashtabula's" time for nearly the entire first nine months of 1980. On 28 September, the oiler embarked upon another tour of duty in the western Pacific. Steaming by way of Guam in the Mariana Islands, she entered Subic Bay in the Philippines on 15 October. Her deployment was marred at its outset by engineering casualties that required a two-month repair period at Subic Bay. On 12 December, she completed repairs and, the following day, put to sea to begin underway refueling service to the ships of the 7th Fleet. For the next four months, Ashtabula operated in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Sea of Japan, refueling American warships assigned to the Far East. The oiler made visits to several Japanese ports—Sasebo, Yokosuka, and Iwakuni—as well as to Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands and Chinhae in Korea. She also returned periodically to the base at Subic Bay. On 15 April 1981, "Ashtabula" departed the Philippines to return to Hawaii. She arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 30th.