USS Massey (DD-778) - Korea

Korea

In December Massey departed for the United States, arriving San Diego 21 December. Reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet, she proceeded to the east coast, arriving New York 16 January 1946. Until the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, 25 June 1950, Massey operated primarily in the Atlantic. Her assignments included midshipmen summer training cruises, her 1946 summer cruise being followed by an official visit to Chile, and hunter-killer team exercises for the Operational Development Force. Twice during this period, 21 July to 19 November 1947 and 1 June to 3 October 1948, she deployed with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.

In September 1950, Massey was again ordered to the Pacific. She departed the east coast on the 6th, arriving Yokosuka a month later. On 14 October she joined the Advanced Force, U.N. Fleet, then engaged in minesweeping operations off the northeast coast of Korea. Massey patrolled the area in blockade and fire support activities, returning regularly to Wonsan, Hungnam, and Songjin, for most of her Korean tour. In December she bombarded enemy troop and transportation concentrations in the Hungnam area while U.N. forces were evacuating that port. She kept up her protective cover from the 15th through the completion of the operation on the 24th. She then turned her guns on the port facilities, thoroughly demolishing them.

In February 1951 the destroyer sailed to the west coast of Korea for blockade and bombardment in support of U.N. troops in the Inchon‑Seoul area. On 11 March she returned to the east coast and once again patrolled the North Korean coast, training her guns on personnel and communications centers.

Massey returned to her home port, Norfolk, 2 July 1951 and resumed operations in the Atlantic. In April 1953 she departed for the Joint Antisubmarine School at Derry, Northern Ireland, and, following ASW operations with Royal Navy units, continued on to the Mediterranean for a 6‑month deployment with the 6th Fleet. During this deployment she joined the carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt in providing medical and material aid to earthquake victims on Cephalonia, one of the Greek Ionian islands. She returned to the United States in October and was briefly assigned to Pensacola, Florida, for plane guard duties. She reentered Hampton Roads in time for Christmas and resumed antisubmarine activities.

Massey spent the next 6 years operating with the Atlantic Fleet. She conducted various exercises and type training off the east coast and in the Caribbean, and made annual deployments to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet and NATO forces. In 1957 she sailed to northern Europe and the North Sea for operations with NATO, in lieu of a Mediterranean cruise.

In December 1959, after 15 years of destroyer service, she entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard where she underwent modernization (FRAM). Four years later, in April 1963, she put into Boston for further modernization, receiving this time a Drone Antisubmarine Helicopter deck. Following these yard periods she resumed her hunter-killer exercises in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.