Following a shakedown cruise, the escort destroyer departed San Diego and participated in the atomic Exercise Greenhouse at Eniwetok until June 1951. The next month, the ship joined the newly formed Escort Destroyer Squadron 1 based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She remained in Hawaii until November 1951 when she sailed for the western Pacific and joined the United Nations Blockading Force assisting UN ground troops in the Korean War. She escorted the fast carrier task forces which were supporting ground units with strategic air strikes. Thus ended "Walker"'s Korean War service.