"Bradley" was laid down at San Francisco, California on 17 January 1963, launched on 26 March 1964, and commissioned on 15 May 1965. Her first deployment to the Western Pacific between July and December 1966 included four months of gunfire support along the coast of South Vietnam and carrier escort duty in the Gulf of Tonkin. In February 1967 Bradley received the prototype destroyer installation of the Sea Sparrow Basic Point Defense Missile System (BPDMS). After intensive trials between May and September, the system was removed in September.