USS Waldron (DD-699) - Post-World War II

Post-World War II

During the immediate postwar period, Waldron remained in the Far East in support of American occupation forces. In addition to Japan, she visited Saipan, Eniwetok, and Okinawa during the repatriation of Japanese—both military and civilian—back to Japan. On 4 November, she departed Okinawa, bound for home. After stops at Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor, the warship arrived at San Francisco on 20 January 1946. From there, she moved to Portland, Oreg., whence she departed on 4 February. The destroyer transited the Panama Canal on 14 February and arrived in Norfolk on the 19th.

Waldron operated along the east coast of the United States for about three months. Early in May, she began an extended repair period at the Boston Naval Shipyard and did not return to active service until the end of the year. During the first few months of 1947, the destroyer operated out of Charleston, S.C.; but, by June, she had been reassigned to New Orleans. For the next two years, she cruised the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies as a training platform for reservists of the 8th Naval District. In August 1949, she made a visit to Norfolk, Va., before getting underway for a deployment to European waters on 6 September. During the first part of that deployment, Waldron cruised northern European waters visiting British and western European ports. Midway through November, however, she transited the Straits of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea. She cruised the length and breadth of the Mediterranean, making a number of port visits, until 28 January 1950 when she retransited the Straits of Gibraltar. She arrived back in Norfolk on 7 February but remained only until the 16th on which day she made the brief voyage to Charleston, S.C. Following pre-inactivation overhaul, Waldron was decommissioned on 17 May 1950 and was berthed with the Charleston Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet.