 Following shakedown in February 1950, "Robert A. Owens", one of the first hunter-killer destroyers so designated, was reclassified DDE-827 on 4 March 1950.She operated in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean (during which time she sank west of Key West, Florida during rocket tests on 7 October 1951) and in late 1952 when she deployed to the Mediterranean.From that time into the 1960s, she operated with the 6th Fleet for six months out of every eighteen.