After conducting training operations—notably gunfire support drills and ASROC firings—in the Subic Bay operating area, "Bagley" departed the Philippines late in April in company with a task force built around the aircraft carrier . The task force constituted a part of the increased American military presence in the western Indian Ocean deemed necessary after radical Iranian students occupied the American embassy in Tehran and took the American diplomatic staff hostage. The continuing hostage crisis and hostilities between Iran and Iraq kept a large number of Navy ships on patrol in nearby waters. "Bagley"s task force remained in the vicinity until 29 July when it headed back to the Pacific. En route to the Philippines, she stopped at Singapore and at Pattaya, Thailand. She reentered Subic Bay on 20 August with 36 Vietnamese refugees whom she had rescued on the passage from Thailand. "Bagley" voyaged to Pusan, Korea, for a goodwill port call in mid-September and returned to Subic Bay on 23 September. On 1 October, the frigate got underway to return to the United States. After the customary pause at Pearl Harbor, "Bagley" arrived back in San Diego on 15 October. Except for a brief period underway on 20 November, the frigate remained in port at San Diego for the remainder of 1980.