"Agerholm" arrived in San Diego on 8 April and spent the rest of 1975 and 1976 on the west coast participating in local operations and midshipman training cruises, and eventually landing a role in the movie "Airport '77". The year 1977 began the same way with only a drydock period at Todd Pacific Shipyards in San Pedro from May to July to interrupt the routine. On 6 September, the destroyer made her 21st and last WestPac cruise. "Agerholm" conducted NGFS training, ASROC test firings, and participated in Exercise Fortress Lightning, a full-scale amphibious landing on Mindoro Island in the Philippines. She stopped for liberty calls at Suva, Auckland, Whangarei, and Nelson, New Zealand, Newcastle and Devonport, Australia, before returning: to San Diego early in 1978 to resume a local operation schedule.