"Sculpin" sailed from Pearl Harbor on 21 February and entered Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 6 March. She also visited Subic Bay, Hong Kong, and Yokosuka before returning to San Diego on 21 August. She conducted local operations until 4 January 1971 when she began a three-month restricted availability period at Mare Island. The yard work was completed on 16 April, and the submarine returned to San Diego. The only interruption of her schedule came in October when she sailed to Puget Sound to have her bottom sand blasted and painted.