USS Tripoli (LPH-10) - Vietnam Service, 1967-1973 - First Tour

First Tour

Except for a round-trip voyage to Okinawa early in September, the ship operated out of Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines for the remainder of her deployment. Main propulsion plant problems, however, continued to plague her for, on the return trip, she went dead in the water not far to the northwest of Subic Bay. USS Beaufort (ATS-2) went out and towed her into port. After repairs, Tripoli, occupied her remaining time in the Far East with amphibious exercises in the Philippines. On 11 October 1967, USS Okinawa relieved her as flagship of TG 76.4, and Tripoli headed for home. She arrived in San Diego on 27 October 1967, and remained there through the end of the year.

On 22 May 1967, USS Tripoli (LPH-10) arrived in the combat zone off the coast of Vietnam and disembarked HMH-463 and VMO-6 at Danang on the 23rd and 24th before joining TG 76.5, just then finishing up amphibious landing Operation "Belt Tight" in the I Corps zone just south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Vietnam. She headed for the Philippines on 25 May, arrived in Subic Bay on the 27th, and relieved USS Princeton (LPH-5) as flagship of Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) "Bravo'VTG 76.5. In that capacity, she embarked not only the task group commander's staff but also the staff of the Commander, Special Landing Force (SLF) "Bravo" CTG 79.5, the 2d Battalion, 3d Marine Regiment (Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/3), the men and aircraft of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron HMM-164, Surgical Evacuation Team "Bravo," and Detachment "Bravo" of Tactical Squadron (TacRon) 11. On 8 June, she departed Subic Bay for an extended tour of duty in Vietnamese waters.

During her 1967 deployment, Tripoli participated in eight amphibious operations, all conducted along the coast of the I Corps tactical zone located in the northernmost part of South Vietnam. Her first operation, codenamed "Beacon Torch," began on 18 June when US Marines of SLF "Bravo" were flown into the vicinity of Hoi An, located on the coast midway between the DMZ and the southern limit of I Corps tactical zone. Between 18 June and 2 July, the Marines operated ashore, initially engaging an enemy force of about 100 men. After an air strike broke the enemy resistance, the Marines concluded their mission with a search and destroy sweep to wipe out the remnants of that force. All the while, Tripoli remained offshore providing logistic support, medical evacuation services for casualties, and a platform from which to launch air support missions by the embarked Marine attack squadron. On 2 July, she received the special landing force back on board and immediately headed north to the coast of Quang Tri province to answer a call for assistance from Marine Corps units near Con Thien, which had suffered heavily from bombardments by North Vietnamese regulars. The ensuing Operation "Beaver Track" pitted SLF "Bravo" against the North Vietnamese troops to relieve the pressure on Marine Corps units based ashore with the III Marine Amphibious Force (MAF). Simultaneously with Operation "Beaver Track," SLF "Alfa", embarked in USS Okinawa (LPH-3), went ashore to engage the same enemy force in Operation "Bear Claw." The two battalion landing teams joined III MAF Marines based ashore in a week-long struggle, followed by an eight-battalion search and destroy sweep. Throughout the 12 days of "Beaver Track/Bear Claw," Tripoli steamed offshore within easy helicopter range to provide logistical, medical, and ground support. The two landing forces were later credited with a third of the 1,100 enemy casualties and with no small part in breaking up the enemy attack.

"Beaver Track/Bear Claw" ended on 14 July, and both battalion landing teams returned to their ships on the 7th. The respite from combat, however, proved brief. At dawn three days later, Tripoli's Marines stormed ashore in a combined waterborne-airborne amphibious assault on the exposed seaward flank of the Viet Cong 806th Battalion near Quang Tri City. The enemy forces avoided contact with the Marines by retiring hastily to the west, where they were badly mauled by South Vietnamese troops. BLT 2/3 re-embarked in Tripoli on the 27th for another brief rest before the equally brief amphibious Operation "Kangaroo Kick", which commenced on 1 August. Tripoli's Marines landed in Quang Tri province, north of Hue. Though the operation ended only three days later, the Marines did not re-embark for the voyage to Subic Bay. Instead, they changed operational control to III MAF, while Tripoli and the rest of TG 76.5 spent two weeks at the Philippine naval base for upkeep.

Tripoli returned to the Vietnamese coast near Hue on the 20th and backloaded SLF "Bravo" in time for the Marines to participate in Operation "Belt Drive." On 27 August, the battalion landing team once more went ashore, via both helicopter and landing craft, in Quang Tri province. Viet Cong and North Vietnamese resistance proved slight; and, after a three-day sweep of the Hai Lang forest, the Marines reembarked in Tripoli on 5 September. That same day, USS Dupont (DD-941) suffered a hit from enemy guns on Cape Lay, North Vietnam. Tripoli,located not far away, went to her assistance and evacuated 12 casualties by helicopter for treatment on board the amphibious assault ship. On the 17th, because her entire complement of CH-46A Sea Knight helicopters had been grounded, Tripoli launched the first all-boat landing from an LPH. In spite of swells eight to twelve feet high, a rain squall, 30- to 40-knot (46 mph; 74 km/h) winds, and visibility frequently less than one-half mile, the boat landings for Operation "Fortress Sentry" came off almost without a hitch. Ashore near the Cua Viet river some seven miles (11 km) south of the DMZ, the Marines moved inland, but encountered no enemy resistance until the 23d. Then, artillery and air support quickly extinguished the enemy's will to fight, and the operation was terminated on the 25th. The Marines reembarked between 25 September and 27 September, and the task group headed back to Subic Bay for six days in port.

Tripoli returned to Vietnam at Danang early in October and loaded 39 defective CH-46A helicopters for transportation to Okinawa, where their tail pylons were to be replaced. Shortly after she departed Danang on 7 October, her lookout spied an Air Force F-105 Thunderchief, which crashed into the sea about two miles (3 km) ahead. One of her helicopters flew to the scene, rescued the pilot, and returned him to the ship for medical treatment. Not long thereafter, her lookouts caught sight of a second survivor of the crash. By the time her helicopter arrived on the scene, an Air Force chopper had already picked up the man. Tripoli's helicopter assisted in the operation by taking on board the Air Force crewman who had jumped in to assist the survivor into the lift harness.

The amphibious assault ship returned from the Ryukyus Islands (Japan) to Vietnamese waters at mid-month. On the 17th, CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters carried the battalion landing team to a point 10 miles (16 km) south of Phu Bai in Thua Thien province. The following day, the Marines changed operational control to III MAF ashore for a search and destroy sweep along Route 1. Meanwhile, Tripoli supplied logistic support until she cleared Vietnamese waters on 1 November, bound for Okinawa with another 18 defective CH-46A helicopters. After brief stops at Okinawa and Subic Bay, the amphibious assault ship returned to Danang on 10 November. After re-embarking SLF "Bravo," she prepared for her last amphibious operation of the deployment, Operation "Badger Hunt." On the 14th, the landing force was lifted some 25 miles (40 km) inland to the area near An Hoa in Quang Nam province. After silencing sporadic enemy resistance near the landing site, Tripoli's Marines joined elements of the shore-based 7th Marines in a successful search-and-destroy operation. Tripoli supported the landing force through the end of the operation on the 27th, when the Marines returned to the ship. She entered Danang on the 29th and began transferring the Marines of the battalion landing team and their supporting elements to USS Valley Forge (LPH-8). The next day, 30 November, Valley Forge relieved Tripoli as flagship, TG 76.5; and Tripoli got underway to return to the United States via Okinawa and Yokosuka, Japan. She arrived in San Diego on 23 December 1967, and began post-deployment standdown.

Tripoli completed a restricted availability at Long Beach between late January and the end of March 1968. During the first three weeks of April, she conducted a series of individual ship exercises and then rounded out the month with amphibious training. From 6 May to 17 May, the ship conducted refresher training and then returned to San Diego to prepare for her second WestPac deployment. On 12 June 1968, the amphibious assault ship stood out of San Diego on her way to the Far East. She stopped briefly at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and at Okinawa before arriving at Subic Bay on 1 July. Between the 2nd and the 5th, she embarked the 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, HMM-265, Detachment "Bravo" of TacRon 13 and other supporting units of the ARG "Bravo." On the 6th, she departed Subic Bay and arrived the following day in the Vietnam combat zone.