On June 17, 1968 while on the gun line with Yankee Station off the coast of North Vietnam, HOBART was struck by three Sparrow missiles fired from a USAF 7th Air Force aircraft (one of the three missiles failed to explode). Two crewmen were killed and seven injured. HOBART and USS BOSTON had been in the vicinity of two US Navy Swift Boats (PCF-12 & PCF-19) that were attacked and sunk after a 2-hour gun battle by North Vietnamese Helicopters. US jets arrived several hours later (around midnight) but the enemy aircraft had departed. As the attack by helicopter was unprecedented, the US aircraft attacked the BOSTON and HOBART assuming they were the enemy who sunk the Swift Boats. The BOSTON suffered no casualties, and was only slightly damaged. In all, HOBART served three tours of duty, and was awarded the United States Navy Unit Commendation for the 1st and 3rd Tours in Vietnam.

HOBART was decommissioned on 12 May 2000 and was sunk as a dive wreck four nautical miles west-north-west of Marina Vincent, Yankalilla Bay, South Australia on 5 November 2002