USS Beaufort (ATS-2) - Salvaging A Downed F-14

Salvaging A Downed F-14

She returned to Hong Kong on 9 March for an 11-day visit before getting underway for Subic Bay. On her way there, however, she received orders diverting her to the Gulf of Thailand to salvage a downed F-14. From 25 to 31 March, conducted recovery operations on the fighter.

On 1 April, Beaufort put into Singapore for a week of liberty and upkeep. She returned to sea on the 9th, bound for surveillance duties in the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands. That mission continued until 23 April when the ship entered Apra Harbor, Guam, for a two-day port call. On 26 April, she began her voyage home to Oahu. She reached Pearl Harbor on 5 May and began a month of post-deployment leave and upkeep.

On 5 June, Beaufort resumed normal operations with a visit to Lahaina Roads near the island of Maui. There, she conducted a bow-lift exercise on the former Bluegill. Similar duty elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands and the mid-Pacific operating area occupied her for the rest of the year and into 1979.