It received the Fleet Air Wing Atlantic Chief of Naval Operations Safety Award for 1972. As a result of the squadron's tactical efforts in 1973 and 1974, VP-26 received the Captain Arnold Jay Isbell Trophy for excellence in anti-submarine warfare. In 1975, the squadron was involved in celebrating the United States Bicentennial. In addition to flying a 13-starred tail cap on their aircraft, over 100 men and women from VP-26 undertook the exterior renovation of the Pejepscot Museum in Brunswick, Maine, earning the squadron a Navy Bicentennial Command designation. As the fleet's only active-duty bicentennial squadron, the 1976 split-site deployment to NS Rota and Lajes Field gave VP-26 the opportunity to display its bicentennial colors throughout the Mediterranean, Europe and the North Atlantic. The squadron received the Golden Wrench Award for superior achievement in aircraft maintenance and readiness and the Captain Arnold Jay Isbell Trophy for 1976. In September 1977, VP-26 was deployed to several locations throughout the North Atlantic. Primarily based at NAS Bermuda and Lajes Field, the squadron had detachments in the Panama Canal Zone, RAF Ascension Island, NAS Guantanamo Bay, NAS Keflavik and NS San Juan. Coordinated operations highlighted this deployment, as aircrews participated in a number of ASW exercises with NATO and Allied Naval Forces. Returning to NAS Brunswick in early 1978, VP-26 received the Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Silver and Golden Anchor Awards for retention excellence, and the CNO Aviation Safety Award for operations in 1976 and 1977. In March 1979 VP-26 began transitioning from the P-3B to the P-3C Update II, which incorporated the latest in avionics and weapons systems (including a turret-mounted infrared detection device which lowered from the nose to identify targets day or night, and AGM-84A Harpoon missile capability).