Denver (LPD 9) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 7 text:

mm w. r fa vn .= -«

Page 6 text:

uss DENVER (LPD 9) CRUISE BOOK March 28, 1975-November 16, 1975

Page 8 text:

DENVER ' S 1975 On the 88th of March 1975, USS DENVER departed her home port of San Diege for a seven and one- half month deployment in the Western Pacific as a unit of Task Force 76. Deploying with her were USS MOBILE, USS ANCHORAGE, USS MOUNT VERNON, USS DULUTH, USS BARBOUR COUNTY, USS I TUSCALOOSA, all units of Amphibious Squadron FIVE I of which DENVER is flagship. • At Pearl Harbor the Squadron staff shifted to USS DULUTH and the Commodore flew ahead to WestPac for r ji)riefing on the worsening situation in South Vietnai DENVER then departed Hawaii and proceeded i idependently toward Okinawa at best speed in order to ffload the enormous load of Marine Corps vehicles carried aboard. The Engineering Department received many Well Dones for their efforts in keeping the ship at full speed for eleven straight days. During the transit we heard of the fall of Cambodia and the impending disaster in Vietnam, along with many rumors as to our eventual destination. Upon arrival off Okinawa, the Deck Depa: swung into action on the night of 17 April accomplishing the offload of vehicle cargo and onloaded Battalion Lan- ding Team (BLT) 3 9 in 26 hours of continuous hard work. The ship got under way at midnight on the 18th of April for a holding area off Vung Tao, South Vietnam. On the way plans were made and facilities set up for the possibility of handling many thousands of refugees. On Miii the 22nd of April DENVER moved into an area within sight of Vung Tao and assumed her position amongst some 48 other ships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet. On the 29th of April DENVER became one of the first ships to receive South Vietnamese refugees asi Huey helicopters began arriving onboard. At one time there were some seven helicopters on our flight ded which was designed for no more than three at one time. In order to make room for more helos, seven had to be jet- tisoned over the stern. During all this confusion the ships special organization for handling refugees was called into.jl jj action and the orderly pro gression began as our new ' charges were directed to the well deck for temporary shelter.|J||j|||Mf| ' DuiSttgr ' tne ' nexf Several days the ship pWfcesil some 7,500 Vietnamese through the well deck, into our waiting Assault Craft Unit One landing craft and shuttles to waiting Military Sealift Command ships. The hours became incredibly long as Marine helos came aboard with load after load of destitute refugees, yet the crew of DENVER again proved that the ship ' s fine reputation was no myth as more than were needed voluntarily stayed on the job moving and feeding the thousands of refugees. These last refugees were Eill taken in by boats of the Amphibious ships and some landing crafts that were|| salvaged and manned by DENVER ' S crew. In the end the MSC shipping was all filled and the warships started tak-