From 1973 to 1975, she was forward deployed to Athens, Greece, and on 30 June 1975 she was reclassified as a guided missile frigate with the new hull number of FFG-5. Returning from Europe, "Richard L. Page" underwent a year-long modernization overhaul, returning to the Atlantic Fleet and a new homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia in 1976. Over the next four years, she repeatedly deployed to the Mediterranean, Middle East, the eastern coast of Africa, and Northern Europe, interspersed with brief periods in her stateside homeport of Norfolk.