"Richard E. Kraus" remained with COMIDEASTFOR, circuiting the Indian Ocean, until 12 February 1972. On her way home, she visited several ports in Africa and arrived in Charleston on 11 March, where she immediately went into a 30-day stand down period. After six months of operations out of Charleston, she embarked on 1 November upon another major deployment, this time with the 7th Fleet in the western Pacific. Stopping at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Rodman in the Panama Canal Zone; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and Midway Island, she made Yokosuka, Japan, on 29 November. She cruised with the Seventh Fleet, often just off the coast of Vietnam, through March 1973. At that time "Kraus" was ordered back to Charleston and operations in the Atlantic and Caribbean.