She moved down the coast to San Diego, California, on 12 October, and on 9 November stood out of that port en route to the western Pacific for her first tour of duty with the 7th Fleet.

In June Shelton participated in a Midshipman training cruise which took her to Balboa, C.Z., and terminated in San Francisco at the end of July.

She was assigned to the bombline with Saint Paul (CA-73) in December; and, for a week, they shelled rail lines, bridges, and other targets of opportunity.

Assigned to TG 95 the following month, Shelton aided in the defense of Yang Do when North Korean forces attempted to land on that island.

Her losses were 12 casualties and a five-foot hole in the bow, but she silenced the batteries and remained on station for two more days before retiring to Sasebo, Japan for repairs.

She was on the west coast in 1960 and, from July to June 1961, she underwent Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) conversion at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.

On 5 March, Shelton was ordered to Subic Bay where she was joined by the destroyers Blue (DD-744) and Frank Knox (DD-742), carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), and oiler Cimarron (AO-22).

All loaded to capacity with stores and consumable items and sailed, on 30 March, for the Indian Ocean on a six-week goodwill cruise.

The squadron was in Yokosuka two weeks later; but the deteriorating situation in Vietnam brought Shelton sailing orders to the South China Sea; and, on 2 June, she began a 28-day stay in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The destroyer sailed for the west coast on 18 July, via Pearl Harbor, and arrived at her new home port, San Diego, on 31 August 1964.

The destroyer provided anti-submarine protection and pilot rescue operations for Bon Homme Richard as well as firing numerous gunfire support missions.

After Shelton returned to San Diego in October, she spent almost nine months operating out of her home port until she was notified that her services were again needed in Vietnam.

Another raid near Hon Me, on 19 December, brought the heaviest hostile fire of the deployment: approximately 700 rounds, with many splashes only 50 yards from the ship.

The ship served in the Republic of China Navy as ROCS Lai Yang, equipped with AAW capabilities and reclassified as DDG-920.