USS Zellars (DD-777) - Korean War

Korean War

Late in June 1950, communist forces from North Korea moved south and invaded the Republic of Korea. As a result, Zellars departed Norfolk in August in company with the other destroyers of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 162 and headed for the Far East. She and her division mates arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, early in October; provisioned, and set sail for Korean waters. The destroyer remained in the Korean War zone for nine months. During that time, her primary missions were gunfire support for United Nations troops ashore and coastal surveillance as well as antisubmarine protection for the larger American warships against an underwater threat that never materialized.

As soon as she arrived on station in October 1950, she took part in the opening of Wonsan harbor. Late in November, the Chinese intervened in the conflict driving the United Nations troops into a southward retreat. Zellars initially supported the retirement of a South Korean division down the east coast and then provided gunfire support to the marines in the defensive perimeter around Wonsan while the Army's 3rd Infantry Division was evacuated by sea. In mid-December, the warship moved north from Wonsan to Hŭngnam to provide gunfire support during the evacuation of another coastal enclave held by retreating United Nations forces. She remained in Korean waters for another six months after the November–December evacuations and ranged both coasts of Korea delivering gunfire in support of the ground troops and interdicting coastal logistics.

The destroyer returned to the United States in July 1951 and resumed duty with the Atlantic Fleet. Upon her return, she concentrated increasingly upon honing her antisubmarine warfare (ASW) capability. Over the next eight years, training in ASW tactics was emphasized on five extended cruises to European and Mediterranean waters and in exercises in the western Atlantic and in the Caribbean Sea.