Departing for her new homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, soon after her commissioning in Pascagoula, "Ticonderoga" completed exercises in the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean. She arrived in Norfolk on 3 June 1983 and then deployed on 20 October to the Mediterranean with the Independence carrier strike group. Although stopping in Portsmouth, England for a brief port visit, "Ticonderoga" was dispatched to the coast of Beirut following the bombing of U.S. Marine barracks on 23 October 1983. During her 48 days on station, she fired her five-inch guns at hostile artillery units attempting to shot down two F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft performing a reconnaissance mission over Lebanon. "Ticonderoga" made a port stop in Haifa, Israel for the new year and then returned to Norfolk, arriving on 4 May 1984.