Delivered to the US Navy on 19 December 1983. It was the very first Tomcat that was accepted by VF-154 Black Knights. The aircraft then served VF-51 (as pictured), then served VF-21 and returned to VF-154 in late 1995. On 31 August 1997 the Cat was written off when it crashed some 140 miles off the coast of Boso peninsula, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The aircraft with its crew was executing landings and take-offs from USS Independence (CV-59) when things went wrong. Both crew survived and were picked-up by the plane guard helicopter of Indy.

At this time was NAS Miramar Assigned to USS Coral Sea