USS Lowry (DD-770) - Korea

Korea

Lowry recommissioned 27 December 1950, Comdr. C. H. Morrison, Jr., in command. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, she arrived New York 30 April 1951, was overhauled at Norfolk, and in August began training exercises in the Caribbean, returning to Norfolk 15 November. On 22 January 1952, Lowry sailed, via the Panama Canal, to join the 7th Fleet, arriving Yokosuka 27 February. With TF 77, Lowry served off the east coast of Korea on shore bombardment, plane guard, and screening duty until early April, then had similar duty off the west coast of Korea with TF 95, the U.N. Blockading and Escort Force, through May. On 8 June, she sailed to rejoin TF 77 for gunstrike missions. Sailing via the Suez Canal and the principal Mediterranean ports, Lowry arrived Norfolk 19 August.

Between 19 August 1952 and 1 February 1954, Lowry made training cruises to the Caribbean and off Florida, engaging in intensive exercises to increase her combat efficiency. She departed Norfolk 1 February for her second world cruise, arriving Yokosuka from the Panama Canal 9 March. After a number of simulated combat exercises, including a full‑scale mock invasion of Iwo Jima, she left Yokosuka 29 June for Suez, completing her second circumnavigation at Norfolk 25 August.

Training along the coast and in the Caribbean prepared Lowry for her first deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, for which she left Norfolk 7 November 1956, returning to Norfolk 28 February 1957 for renewed training and overhaul. She again left Norfolk 3 September for NATO "Strikeback" exercises in the North Atlantic, continuing on to the Mediterranean from which she returned to Norfolk 22 December.

Her third tour with the 6th Fleet, 7 August 1959 to 26 February 1960, was followed by a FRAM II overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, completed 14 January 1961.

In June 1961, Lowry joined Antisubmarine Warfare Task Group Alpha, a special force engaged in research and development. She served in this force for the major part of the next 4 years, which included such operations as the rescue‑of Astronaut Virgil Grissom successfully completing the second American space flight 21 July 1961 (Mercury-Redstone 4), and the Naval Quarantine of Cuba which played the major role in ending the Cuban Missile Crisis of October–November 1962.