page_title: USS Walker (DD-517)
section_title: 1966
hierarchical_section_title: USS Walker (DD-517) / 1966
caption_attribution_description: A RUR-4 Weapon Alpha is launched from the U.S. Navy anti-submarine destroyer USS Walker (DDE-517), circa 1958.
context_page_description: USS Walker (DD-517), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Admiral John Grimes Walker.
  Walker was laid down on 31 August 1942 by the Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; launched on 31 January 1943, sponsored by Miss Sarah C. Walker; and commissioned on 3 April 1943, Commander O. F. Gregor in command.
  The first seven months of Walker's service took place in the Atlantic where she was engaged in Caribbean escort duty and training exercises in preparation for Pacific combat duty. The highlights of this period included the capture on 7 August of 43 survivors of the U-615 which had been damaged by Navy air units off Cuba, and the responsibility of escorting the Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Casablanca to participate in the Moscow Conference of October 1943.
context_section_description: January 1966 saw the ship taking part in local operations and making preparations for an upcoming deployment. On 7 February, she commenced a six-month cruise, arriving at Yokosuka via Midway Atoll 10 days later. Duty in the South China Sea began on 28 February with assignments as a planeguard and as a naval gunfire support ship. Walker's first offensive actions of the Vietnam War occurred on 5 March in support of United States and Allied forces. This assignment was interrupted by patrol duty in the Taiwan Strait and rest and rehabilitation at Keelung, Taiwan; and Hong Kong.
  Walker returned to Qui Nhơn, South Vietnam, on 22 April and began support missions, shooting direct fire at the Vietcong coastal supply areas and troop concentrations. The second ship on station, Walker received sporadic machine gunfire from the enemy ashore while a gig was returning with spotters and advisors to the ship for a briefing. This was the first time since World War II that Walker had been subjected to hostile fire.
  On 26 April 1966, the escort destroyer supplied direct, indirect, harassment, and interdiction support for Operation Osage, a combined amphibious assault at Chu Lai. These duties were interrupted to escort a Marine Corps motor convoy from Da Nang to Phu Bai on 28 April. On 1 May, the ship detached and proceeded independently for repairs at Sasebo, Japan, via Buckner Bay, Okinawa.
  Walker set course on 17 May for Manila Bay, Philippines, where she joined in SEATO antisubmarine warfare Exercise Sea Imp which lasted until 6 June. The ship next joined Taylor for a month of patrol duty in the Taiwan Strait during which time she rescued a Nationalist Chinese fishing boat adrift for 48 hours. The escort destroyer returned to Yokosuka, Japan, on 8 July.
  Instead of departing for home, Walker received orders to replace Walke in antisubmarine exercises in the Sea of Japan. These exercises included the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and naval units of the Republic of Korea. On 24 July, a Soviet Kotlin-class destroyer was sighted as it commenced shadowing the Allied group. Walker was designated to shoulder the Russian destroyer, and she was successful in preventing the attempted penetration of the screen by the Russian ship and her replacement. Walker also assumed duty on 29 July as a shadow against the Soviet electronics intelligence (Elint) trawler Izmeritel.
  On 1 August 1966, Walker detached and proceeded to Yokosuka from whence she began the transit to Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 10 August and made preparations for a yard overhaul. Walker entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on 19 September and remained in overhaul status for the rest of calendar year 1966.
caption: Weapon Alpha launch by Walker, circa 1958.
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