Talk:USS Denver (LPD-9)

Service aboard

The USS DENVER is a great ship and very versatile. I had a great tour aboard her and was fortunate to serve under two great Commanding Officers. Don Jones, later promoted to Vice Admiral and Bob Klee, later promoted to Rear Admiral. Both, I am sad to report are now deceased.

The ship motto or slogan is not as stated. It is "A MILE HIGH, A MILE AHEAD."

This is on the ship plaque of which I have two.

Peter Gingras 1975--1977 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Admgus (talk • contribs) 18:35, 24 July 2006

In 2005 the CO of the ship began using "The Finest Gator in the Fleet," as the ship's motto. Although I no longer serve on the ship, I believe it is still in use today. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.56.129.194 (talk • contribs) 12:02, 11 February 2007

Great ship

I served aboard this ship on two West-Pacs, from 81-83. I loved this old ship; she never let us down in the rough seas. "A MILE HIGH, A MILE AHEAD." was the motto when I was aboard. It is too bad they changed it. I still have one of the stickers on my old id. She's a fine ship. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.32.32.166 (talk) 11:46, 7 May 2007 (UTC).

Role in the Evacuation of Saigon

DENVER deployed to the Western Pacific from San Diego, CA on 28 March 1975 amid the increasingly bad news from Southeast Asia. The ship laid over in Pearl Harbor for several days where the officers were made even more aware of the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam, and some preparatory measures to support evacuation were carried out. Captain Harry Jenkins held several meetings with his department heads to map out how DENVER would respond to an influx of an undetermined but assumed large number of people. As a result, the ship loaded quite a bit of rice, new metal trashcans in which to serve it, plywood to construct privies, and numerous other hygiene items. No small part of the planning involved crew duties and responsibilities including food service, security including body searches for contraband), medical screening, taking census

The ship arrived in Okinawa (Kin Blue Beach) at 1900, 17 April 1975 with intentions to quickly offload WESTPAC-bound cargo before moving the pier at White Beach in Buckner Bay to prepare for whatever was to come next. Unfortunately, nobody was there on the beach to come out to the ship to drive the several LVTs (Landing Vehicle Tracked) off the ship. Ship's force was forced to drive several of them into the LCM-8s to take them to shore before the Marines finally showed. DENVER got to the White Beach pier at 0600 the next day to load 700 Marines, 75 vehicles, and 50 pallets of cargo. Again, amidst gathering rumors mixed with hard news, the ship was underway for Operation Frequent Wind off Vietnam at midnight on 18 April 1976 arriving off Vung Tao on 22 April.

On the 29th of April, after days of anticipation, the North Vietnamese Army overcame any remaining resistance, and the evacuation of Saigon began in earnest. Denver was a frontline participant over the next several days, as the ship received first American and “third-country nationals, and then a mix of Vietnamese civilians and military. Saigon surrendered on 1 May 1976. At 0900 that morning a swarm of South Vietnamese UH-1 Huey helicopters descended on the task force, and DENVER was the closest large helicopter deck to shore. Soon six helicopters were sitting on deck with rotors turning on a deck designed for two such helicopters. South Vietnamese military and their families soon crowded the deck. During the rush to get the people aboard by helicopter, the crew was required to clear the flight deck of now pilot-less helos. A rough-terrain forklift was used to smash into the front of the Huey’s on deck and push them over the stern – seven in all.

As the fleeing Vietnamese sent to the well deck began to fill the space, DENVER's LCM8 landing craft were pressed into service to transfer them to waiting civilian-manned charter ships in order to keep the Navy ship clear of refugees. Some ship had as many as 6,000 refugees aboard.

The next day, a large motely group of refugee vessels, many of questionable seaworthiness, appeared on the western horizon seeking asylum. DENVER's landing craft along with other various other small craft removed the refugees from these vessels and brought them back to the ship for processing before transfer to the charter vessels. In addition to the two LCM8s DENVER carried, two additional LCM8s scavenged by the DENVER crew from the refugee vessels were placed into service gathering the refugees from their decrepit vessels on 1 and 2 May.

After frantically taking some six thousand persons aboard via both helicopter and boat and transporting most of them to other refugee collection ships, Denver headed headed for Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines on 3 May with 600 refugees camped on the flight deck and a hundred or so US and third country nationals stashed here and there.

During this even, the following message was received form the Secretary of Defense:

R (meaning routine) 302217Z/27 APR 75 FM SECNAV WASHINGTON DC TO ALNAV BT UNCLAS//N05713// 1. THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS QUOTED FOR YOUR INFO: QUOTE: O (meaning operational immediate) 292026Z APR 75 FM SECDEF WASH DC (Secretary of Defense) TM AIG 8790 XMT DEPT MF TRANS WASH DC FBI WASH DC GSA OFFICE OF PREPAREDNESS WASH DC UNCLAS 6621 SECDEF SENDS TO “ALL DOD COMPONENTS” TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES: AS THE LAST WITHDRAWAL OF AMERICANS FROM VIETNAM TAKES PLACE, IT IS MY SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS TO YOU, THE MEN AND WOMEN OF OUR ARMED FORCES, A FEW WORDS OF APPRECIATION ON BEHALF OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. FOR MANY OF YOU, THE TRAGEDY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA IS MORE THAN A DISTANT AND ABSTRACT EVENT. YOU HAVE FOUGHT THERE; YOU HAVE LOST COMRADES THERE; YOU HAVE SUFFERED THERE. IN THIS HOUR OF PAIN AND REFLECTIONYOU MAY FEEL THAT YOUR EFFORTS AND SACRIFICES HAVE GONE FOR NAUGHT. THAT IS NOT THE CASE. WHEN THE PASSIONS HAVE MUTED AND THE HISTORY IS WRITTEN, AMERICANS WILL RECALL THAT THEIR ARMED FORCES SERVED THEM WELL. UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES MORE DIFFICULT THAN EVER BEFORE FACED BY OUR MILITARY SERVICES, YOU ACCOMPLISHED THE MISSION ASSIGNED TO YOU BY HIGHER AUTHORITY. IN COMBAT YOU WERE VICTORIOUS AND YOU LEFT THE FIELD WITH HONOR. THOUGH YOU HAVE DONE ALL THAT WAS ASKED OF YOU, IT WILL BE STATED THAT THE WAR ITSELF WAS FUTILE. IN SOME SENSE, SUCH MAY BE SAID OF ANY NATIONAL EFFORT THAT ULTIMATELY FAILS. YET OUR INVOLVEMENT WAS NOT PURPOSELESS. IT WAS INTENDED TO ASSIST A SMALL NATION TO PRESERVE ITS INDEPENDENCE IN THE FACE OF EXTERNAL ATTACK AND TO PROVIDE AT LEAST A REASONABLE CHANCE TO SURVIVE. THAT VIETNAM SUCCUMBED TO POWERFUL EXTERNAL FORCES VITIATES NEITHER THE EXPLICIT PURPOSE BEHIND OUR INVOLVEMENT – NOR THE IMPULSE OF GENEROSITY TOWARD THOSE UNDER ATTACK THAT HAS LONG INFUSED AMERICAN POLICY. YOUR RECORD OF DUTY PERFORMED UNDER DIFFICULT CONDITIONS REMAINS UNMATCHED. I SALUTE YOU FOR IT. BEYOND ANY QUESTION YOU ARE ENTITLED TO THE NATION’S RESPECT, ADMIRATION, AND GRATITUDE. UNCLAS JAMES R. SCHLESINGER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE. UNQUOTE BT

This information is from personal notes I made while involved in this operation while assigned to USS DENVER as the Deck Department Head

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