Orion again changed homeport to La Maddalena, Italy, servicing ships of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea until 1993, when she was relieved by the USS Simon Lake (AS-33). Orion returned to the United States and was decommissioned September 3, 1993. Ex-Orion was transferred to the Maritime Administration for storage 1 May 1999 and sold to North American Ship Recycling, Baltimore, Maryland to be dismantled on 27 July 2006.