"Ashland" was recommissioned on 29 November 1961. Assigned to Amphibious Squadron 4, she began a routine alternating operations off the East Coast with 6th Fleet deployments to the Mediterranean and to the Caribbean. In October 1964, she participated in Operation Steel Pike I, during which the ship served as a primary control vessel and boat repair ship. Upon completion of Steel Pike, the dock landing ship visited ports in Spain and Portugal before returning to Little Creek, Virginia, her home port, on 19 November.