A BRIEF HISTORY OF U.S.S. STODDARD (DD 566)

Stoddard was recommissioned Mar. 9, 1951 as a result of the coming of the Korean War. She alternated deployments with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean and operations along the Atlantic seaboard of the U. S. until Dec. 1954 when she joined the Pacific Fleet. She participated in the evacuation of Chinese Nationalists from the Tachen Islands then served on the Taiwan Strait Patrol. During her first 1O years following her reactivation, she followed a schedule of deployments between the Far East and the West Coast. She concentrated on the South China Sea - Taiwan Strait area because that was the major trouble spot for the U. S. in the Western Pacific. 

In 1961 the Laotian crisis sent Stoddard to Southeast Asia where she would soon concentrate all her efforts. By mid-June 1965, she was operating along the coast of Vietnam, principally in the Danang area against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Regulars. She served as plane-guard on Yankee Station then returned to the West Coast of the U. S. to operate with the 1st Fleet. On 5 Nov. 1966 she stood out of San Diego for the Western Pacific. Stoddard did three tours of duty off Vietnam during this deployment. She took up plane- guard duty again. While participating in Operation "Sea Dragon," she sank 26 small waterborne logistics craft and duelled with shore batteries. Stoddard destroyed radar installations and ammo dumps, pounded staging areas, and silenced shore batteries. While assisting in the rescue of a downed American flyer near the mouth of the Song Clap River, she came under intense fire from a shore battery and sustained one direct hit. On 10 July 1967, she was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon for her service in this action. She returned to the West Coast and spent her last 21 months with the 1st Fleet during which time she made one more cruise to the Western Pacific. She was decommissioned in Sept. 1969 and placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Mare Island California.