 After changing operational control from the Second Fleet to the Sixth Fleet, the guided missile destroyer departed Rota on 11 December and entered the Mediterranean Sea.Conducting ASW and antiair warfare (AAW) exercises, the warship headed across the Mediterranean, stopping at Barcelona from 20 to 26 December and arriving in Naples, Italy, on 30 December.She departed that port on 6 January 1973, and headed for the Ionian Sea.