Converted To Radar Picket Ship
Her sojourn in reserve was to last through the Korean War of 1950 to 1953. Taken out of reserve and reactivated in 1954, Wilhoite underwent an extensive conversion to a radar picket ship, receiving sophisticated radar equipment.
Reclassified to DER-397 on 2 September 1954, Wilhoite was recommissioned on 29 January 1955 at the Charleston Naval Shipyard, Lt. Comdr. Lambert V. Forde in command, but remained in dockyard hands at Charleston for final installation of equipment and further tests until 22 March. She then proceeded, via Norfolk, Virginia, to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for a rigorous 10-week shakedown. After her post-shakedown availability, Wilhoite sailed for the Pacific on 20 July; she officially became part of the Pacific Fleet's Cruiser-Destroyer Force on the 24th.
Upon her arrival at her new home port, Seattle, Washington, on 12 August, Wilhoite became a unit of CortRon 5 and soon commenced what would become a regular routine of duty as a coastal radar picket ship under the overall direction of Commander, Western Continental Air Defense Command. In the next three years and seven months, Wilhoite conducted a total of 30 picket tours before she sailed for Hawaii and her new home port of Pearl Harbor on 4 March 1959.
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