In March 1962 she entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM). Redesignated DD-877, on 30 September, she emerged from the Mark II overhaul and conversion in December with a new superstructure configured for QH-50 DASH. The "new" destroyer spent the next ten months exercising off the west coast and in mid-October 1963 resumed annual deployments to WestPac, her first mission to conduct operations with the carrier in the South China Sea. Continuing to alternate 7th Fleet and 1st Fleet duty tours into 1970, each of "Perkins"s WestPac deployments returned her to the South China Sea where, off the coast of Vietnam, she served as plane guard for carriers on "Yankee Station" in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in "Sea Dragon" and "Market Time" operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out naval gunfire support missions during the conflict.