USS Isherwood (DD-520) - After The War

After The War

Isherwood arrived Ulithi for repairs 9 May 1945 and steamed into San Francisco Bay 3 June. She finished her overhaul just as the Pacific war ended; and, after training exercises, sailed 3 October for New York. After taking part in the Navy Day Presidential Review, the ship steamed to Charleston, where she decommissioned 1 February 1946 and was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

Isherwood recommissioned at Charleston 5 April 1951, and after shakedown and training in the Caribbean steamed into Newport, her new home port, 6 August. Plane guard duty off Jacksonville and operations in Narragansett Bay occupied her through the end of 1951. She then sailed for a cruise with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, departing 22 April 1952, and, for the next 6 months, visited various ports supporting the important peace-keeping operations of the fleet. She returned to her home port 17 October 1952.

Isherwood made another 6th Fleet cruise 22 April – 26 October 1953, after which she took part in maneuvers and plane guard duty off the East Coast. In June 1954 the ship underwent refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay, and sailed from Newport 30 November 1954 to join the Pacific Fleet.

The veteran ship arrived San Diego via the Panama Canal 15 December 1954, and got underway for the Far East 4 January 1955. During this cruise she operated mainly in the Philippines, with a period on Taiwan Patrol in April and May 1955. Her part in these important 7th Fleet operations ended in June and she arrived San Diego the 19th for additional training and readiness steaming. 1956, however, brought Isherwood back to these troubled waters, as she spent the period January–July on operations off Taiwan, Malaya, and Japan.

The destroyer returned to the Far East in 1957, making stops in Sydney, Perth and Darwin, Australia with the three other destroyers of DesDiv 211, DesRon 21. This was the first US Navy visit to an Australian port, and the country welcomed the ships by opening a national park in Sidney, commemorating the Battle of Coral Sea.

During the 1958, she steamed off Taiwan during the tense Quemoy-Matsu crisis, when American forces afloat helped prevent a flareup between Nationalist and Communist China. The ship returned to her home port of San Diego on 7 December 1958, and spent the first 6 months of 1959 on maneuvers and training exercises after refitting in Mare Island (Vallejo) Navy Yard. Isherwood then sailed for her fifth 7th Fleet cruise 1 August 1959. During the next months she operated with carrier Lexington (CV-16) in the South China Sea, helping to limit the fighting in Laos and lending strength to United Nations efforts to find a solution. After additional flight operations and fleet exercises, the ship sailed for San Diego 29 November 1959.

In 1960 Isherwood took part in training operations, including a summer NROTC midshipmen training cruise, until sailing again for 7th Fleet duty 18 October. She served on Taiwan Patrol and took part in an amphibious exercise on Okinawa before arriving San Diego 27 March 1961.

Isherwood engaged in training off California until decommissioning 11 September 1961. She was loaned to Peru 8 October 1961, but was never returned.

The Peruvian Navy renamed the ship BAP Almirante Guise (DD-72). The ship was stricken and scraped in 1981.