USS Hawkins (DD-873) - 1964-1967

1964-1967

Reclassified DD-873 on 1 April, Hawkins completed FRAM late in 1964. Assigned to Destroyer Squadron 24, she operated out of Newport until departing 29 September for duty in the Far East. Steaming via the Panama Canal and the West Coast, she joined the 7th Fleet 23 November as part of America's powerful naval commitment to thwart Communist aggression in Southeast Asia. For the next 3 months she guarded hard-hitting carriers in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin and provided gunfire support for ground troops along the coast of South Vietnam. She departed Subic Bay late in February 1966, steamed via the Suez Canal, and arrived Newport 8 April.

Hawkins maintained the peak readiness of her crew and equipment over the next few months with exercises off the East Coast and in the Caribbean. Departing Newport 28 November, she joined the 6th Fleet at Gibraltar 8 December and became flagship for ComDesRon 24. For more than 3 months she cruised the Mediterranean from Spain to Greece before returning to Newport 20 March 1967. Into mid-1967 she operated along the Atlantic Coast from New England to Florida.