Reserve ASW Force
Thereafter, into the 1960s, Whitehurst cruised one weekend per month and made one two-week cruise per year. During the fiscal year 1961, the destroyer escort placed second in the national competition and the battle efficiency competition among the west coast Group II Naval Reserve destroyer escorts.
Commissioned on 2 October 1961 for duty with the Pacific Fleet, Lieutenant Commander Donald L. MacLane, USNR, in command, Whitehurst operated actively with the fleet after being "called to the colors" as a result of the Berlin Crisis that autumn. The destroyer escort departed Seattle on the 4th, bound for her new home port of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
After a period of training in the Hawaiian area, Whitehurst departed Pearl Harbor on 10 February 1962 for a deployment to the Western Pacific (WestPac). During the deployment, she operated with the 7th Fleet out of Subic Bay, Philippines, and made a goodwill visit to Sapporo, Japan. The ship also operated in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Siam.
Returning to the United States via Hawaii, Whitehurst arrived at Seattle in company with Charles E. Brannon (DE-446) on 17 July 1962. Subsequently decommissioned on 1 August 1962 and placed in Group II in-service status as a Naval Reserve training ship, Whitehurst resumed operations out of Seattle. During 1963, the ship received two major changes in her configuration when her 40-millimeter mounts and ship-to-shore power reels — the latter items having enabled her to function as a floating power station — were removed.
Whitehurst, in subsequent years, visited San Diego, California; Bellingham, Port Angeles, and Everett, Washington; and Esquimalt, British Columbia. On 17 January 1965 while operating in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and steaming in dense fog off the Vancouver narrows, Whitehurst collided with the Norwegian freighter SS Hoyanger. Both ships then ran aground in shallow water. The destroyer escort suffered a five-foot gash in her stern above the waterline while the freighter got off with three feet of scraped bow plates. The following day, both ships were pulled off by tugs.
Whitehurst operated locally out of Seattle and ranged as far south as San Diego and San Francisco into 1967. One of the highlights for the destroyer escort in 1966 was the visit of astronaut Commander Richard F. Gordon, Jr., USN, in November 1966. The ship transported Gordon and his family from Seattle to his home town of Bremerton on 18 November before she returned to her home port.
Read more about this topic: USS Whitehurst (DE-634)
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