USS Zellars (DD-777) - FRAM

FRAM

Late in 1959, Zellars entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and began Mark II Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul and alterations. The addition of more up-to-date equipment added years to her projected service life and greatly enhanced her ASW capability. The most noticeable change was the addition of a flight deck and stowage area for an ASW helicopter. These modifications were completed in June 1960; and the ship moved south to a new home port, Mayport, Florida. Between June 1960 and December 1965, Zellars made five deployments to European waters. Four of those assignments consisted of duty in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet and the remaining one involved a midshipman summer cruise to northern European ports. Her duties with the 2nd Fleet in the western Atlantic and Caribbean consisted for the most part of training and yard overhauls but were highlighted by participation in operations enforcing the Cuban quarantine in the fall of 1962 and occasional duty supporting the Polaris missile test program.

In December 1965, Zellars moved to Newport, Rhode Island, her new home port. In 1966, she remained in the western Atlantic for the entire year, breaking her training routine between mid-May and mid-September for regular overhaul at the Boston Naval Shipyard. More than half of 1967 was taken up by the NATO exercise Operation "Matchmaker III," an experiment designed to determine what problems might arise from combined operations of ships of various nations and to test solutions to those problems. The operation began in mid-January 1967 and lasted until mid-August. It took her first to the West Indies, thence across the Atlantic to the waters around northern Europe, up over the Arctic Circle and finally to the coasts of New England and Canada.

In September 1967, she resumed 2nd Fleet operations along the eastern seaboard. After completing the annual "Springboard" operation in February and preparing at Newport, Rhode Island, for overseas movement, Zellars sailed for the Mediterranean once again, putting to sea from Newport on 4 April 1968. That deployment, consisting of the usual unilateral and multinational training exercises and goodwill port visits, lasted until 27 September when she tied up at Newport once again. Following eight months of operations out of Newport, the destroyer embarked upon the last Mediterranean cruise of her career on 9 April 1969. The usual Mediterranean training and port visit routine occupied her time for the next six months.