USS Hopewell (DD-681) - Korean War

Korean War

With the increased demands of the Korean War, Hopewell recommissioned 28 March 1951 at San Diego. Immediately following shakedown training she steamed westward to Korea 18 June, taking up screening duties with Task Force 77 as carrier based aircraft blasted Communist positions. The destroyer also bombarded Wonsan and served on the Formosa Patrol August-September 1951, returning to Mare Island Yard 5 February 1952.

Hopewell sailed for her second tour in Korea 11 August 1952 after shakedown and training exercises. During this period of stalemate in the land war, the Navy continued to operate against supply lines and strong points, and Hopewell screened the carriers and heavy ships of Task Force 77. Bombardment of Wonsan followed another period of Formosa Patrol, and in December the ship steamed to Formosa to help train Nationalist Chinese sailors. She returned briefly to Korea to screen battleship Missouri during bombardment operations late in January 1953, and sailed for the United States 3 March 1953.

After operating off the California coast for several months on antisubmarine training, Hopewell sailed again for the Far East 27 October 1953. She again took part in training exercises and patrol off Formosa, returning to San Diego 23 May 1954. As she began her fourth cruise, a new crisis between Communist China and Formosa developed, and in February Hopewell assisted in the evacuation of the Tachen Islands. Following this Cold War operation, the destroyer took part in fleet exercises in the western Pacific, returning to San Diego 22 May 1955.

The veteran ship spent the remainder of 1955 on exercises off the coast. On 11 November during an amphibious training operation, a single engine attack bomber crashed into Hopewell amidships, killing five and starting gasoline fires. Alert firefighters brought the flames under control and the ship returned to San Diego for lengthy repairs.

Returning to active operations again 24 March 1956, when she sailed for the Far East, Hopewell resumed her regular pattern of cruises to Japan, Formosa, and Okinawa interspersed with training and readiness exercises off the West Coast of the United States. She operated with Korean and Nationalist Chinese ships on maneuvers in 1958 and 1959 and continued to act as an integral part of America fleet in the Pacific. On 12 November 1959 Hopewell returned to San Diego for extensive refitting and training.