The first day of 1965 found "Gurke" with Task Group 77.7 (TG 77.7) in the South China Sea. Long hours were spent on station, plane-guarding for attack carriers and . As the Vietnam War became "hot" in late January she served as one of the escorts for an amphibious task group in the vicinity of Da Nang, South Vietnam. Long stretches at sea with fast carriers were punctuated by liberty calls at Subic Bay and Hong Kong. On 20 April 1965 the destroyer sailed in company with "Ranger" for return to San Diego, on 7 May 1965. The remainder of the year was filled with a rapid succession of coastwise training exercises ranging north to Seattle, which continued until she sailed for the western Pacific on 12 May 1966. After visiting Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines, "Gurke" was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin late in June for search and rescue duty. On 1 July three North Vietnamese PT boats were detected 11 miles (20 km) away from "Gurke" and three sister destroyers and closing at high speed. Fighter aircraft from intercepted the raiders and sank all three within minutes. The destroyers picked up 19 survivors for questioning.