After her service on Adak, she was reassigned to Kodiak, Alaska, where she spent the rest of her Coast Guard career. She arrived on May 1, 1979. On March 24, 1989, the "Exxon Valdez" ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound spilling of crude oil. "Ironwood" was dispatched as part of a large Coast Guard response. She placed boom, set moorings for the response fleet, and observed conditions of the oil slick and affected wildlife.