Denver (LPD 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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w PAC DEPLOYMENT lltUilUl! 1 Ljfing on refugees for transport to Subic Bay Phillipines. DENVER ' S share came to over 500 people who were bedded down under a tent city erected on the flight deck |amidst salvaged helicopters. UJLjjlAt ly lfew days in Subic the ship got underway for bkfiid ai: ' riving at White Beach on the 12th of May. 5 The next morning DENVER got underway on short notice in response to the Mayaguez Incident but word was received on the 85th to head back to Okinawa when the f Mayaguez was recovered. The rest of the month of May and June saw i DENVER support the Marine Corps with routine transits I from White Beach to Numazu at the foot of Mount Fuji in ;, Japan and a side trip to Pusan, Korea, where we all en- Ijoyed good liberty and shopping at low prices. July proved another busy month as DENVER took MOBILE under tow when that ship had a major engineering breakdown. That evolution and some ex- tremely rough surf off Numazu caused the loss of several days in our already tight schedule. Those days were made up in a record breaking switch of BLT ' s in Okinawa as DENVER conducted the unprecedented simultaneous . onload of one BLT while offloading another. The ship then ' went to Yokosuka, Japan, fopeiuch needed repairs arriv- fing 18 July. 911 The ship next got underway for Pohang, South M , Korea to put out Marines ashore for training prior to a landing exercise in August. During transit DENVER ex- ' - ' pptiiyM H i perienced a rather major fire in the after engine room which was finally brought under control only because of the heroic efforts of the engineering department per- sonnel involved in fighting it. After picking up Marines in Pohang, DENVER and other ships of Amphibious Ready Group BRAVO con- ducted a joint landing with Korean forces near Pohang encountering some extremely rough weather and surf conditions. Afterwards DENVER visited Inchon, Korea, on the Yellow Sea 28 August to 3 September. The ship arrived back at White Beach on 10 September after put- ting BLT 8 9 ashore at Numazu. When next underway on 17 September DENVER was enroute for a port visit to Hong Kong and thence to Subic Bay. While in Hong Kong the ship was required to get underway to avoid Typhoon Alice. On 89 October DENVER departed Okinawa for Home. On 18 November DENVER got underway from Pearl Harbor for San Diego with Commander Amphibious Squadron FIVE aboard in company with the rest of the squadron. DENVER arrived in San Diego on 16 November 1975 after seven and one-half months of a cruise which was highlighted by some of the most memorable moments in the lives of her crew anci thousands whose lives touched on the DENVER Doer| Best Ar m ,i the Fleet iif t i '

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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-

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THE SKIPPER