USS Uhlmann (DD-687) - Vietnam War

Vietnam War

In the 1960s, trouble flared in the area formerly known as French Indochina; and Uhlmann served three more wartime tours in Pacific waters, this time off the coast of Vietnam. Her duties included gunfire support of land action, often coordinated by an airborne spotter, illumination missions, and routine bombardment assignments. Off Vietnam in 1965, she searched junks for contraband; supplied shore bombardment; and served as a plane guard for carrier Bon Homme Richard. In 1968, a year of heavy fighting in the Republic of Vietnam, Uhlmann acted as a plane guard in the Gulf of Tonkin and fired 50 naval gunfire support missions off Huế.

In 1969, she participated in fleet exercises in Hawaiian waters; then, on 1 October, she returned to the west coast and assumed new duties as a Group I Naval Reserve Training Ship operating out of Tacoma, Washington. For the next three years, she conducted reserve training cruises out of that port and participated in fleet exercises. During Exercise "Head Beagle" in August 1970, she conducted intensive training in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and off the coast of Washington in conjunction with Canadian naval forces.