USS Floyd B. Parks, a 2425-ton Gearing class destroyer built at Orange, Texas, was commissioned in July 1945.

     Assigned to the Pacific Fleet, in early 1946 she steamed to the Far East on the first of twenty Western Pacific deployments she would make over the next twenty-seven years.

     During the Korean War, Floyd B. Parks twice participated in combat support operations, including an intense shore bombardment effort during 1951 in which she fired over twelve-thousand five-inch shells.

     During the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, Floyd B. Parks continued her pattern of regular WESTPAC deployments. In January 1955, she assisted with the evacuation of the Tachen Islands, near the China coast. She was damaged in a collision in March 1956, but returned to active service by mid-Summer.

     During the later 1950s, she supported nuclear tests in the Central Pacific. In 1962-63 the middle-aged destroyer was given an extensive "FRAM-I" modernization to better equip her for contemporary anti-submarine warfare.

     As U.S. participation in the Vietnam conflict expanded during the middle and later 1960s, Floyd B. Parks was regularly stationed in that area. She actively carried out shore bombardment missions during deployments in 1968, 1969, 1971 and 1972.

     USS Floyd B. Parks was decommissioned in July 1973.

Source: Naval Historical Society

Final History submitted by Commanding Officer