1970s
Towers spent much of the year 1970 on routine local operations in the vicinity of her home port in preparation for future WestPac deployments. On 4 September, while conducting refresher training out of San Diego, the ship directed a helicopter to rescue the pilot from an F-8 Crusader that had crashed nearby. The embarked evaluation team from the Fleet Training Group gave the ship a grade of "outstanding" during this "unscheduled evolution."
Deploying again to WestPac on 7 January 1971, Towers proceeded to Vietnamese waters, via Pearl Harbor and Midway. While she proceeded west on 20 January, one of the other ships in her convoy, Roark, suffered a major engine room fire which stopped her dead in the water. Towers turned-to and lent a hand. After the fire was extinguished, the guided missile destroyer took Roark in tow until Quapaw arrived and took over the towing.
Towers arrived back on the gunline on 8 February and provided gunfire support until the 21st, when she moved to "Yankee Station" to provide plane-guard service for USS Ranger. On 6 March, a member of the carrier's flight deck force was blown over the side during launching operations. Towers quickly sped to the scene, rescued the sailor, and returned him to his ship.
A short visit to Subic Bay followed, as did another tour on the gunline and the northern SAR station. The ship then returned to Subic Bay for upkeep and then made still another tour as plane guard and screen for Kitty Hawk. She departed WestPac on 1 July. Arriving at San Diego on the 15th, Towers operated out of her home base into the early spring of 1972. Gunnery exercises, underway training evolutions (with emphasis on ASW and AAW tactics); plane-guarding for Midway; and an upkeep and inport period all followed as the ship prepared for her upcoming WestPac deployment.
Events in Vietnam, however, forced a change in plan for Towers and rapidly accelerated her return to the war zone. Although not scheduled for deployment until September, she departed the west coast on 20 June, bound once more for-the gunline. A massive Viet Cong and North Vietnamese assault had battered South Vietnamese forces in key Quang Tri Province and resulted in emergency measures for the supporting naval forces offshore. During the voyage from the west coast to the South China Sea, the ship assisted in the rescue of six crewmen from a downed B-52 Stratofortress near Guam and received a commendation from the United States Secretary of the Navy.
A curtailed two-day upkeep period at Subic Bay preceded the ship's sailing on 13 July for the gunline. Heavy commitments and long hours of gunfire support duty in support of ARVN troops followed from 17 to 28 July as Towers participated in Operation Lamson 72. From 29 July to 5 August, the ship operated on "Linebacker" strikes against targets to the northward of the DMZ, in North Vietnam, as part of Task Unit 77.1.2. On several occasions during this time, she came under fire from communist shore batteries.
The intense gunfire support duties assigned to the ship soon wore out the linings of her two 5-inch guns, so the ship sailed for Sasebo, where she spent the week from 9 to 15 August undergoing a re-gunning. She soon returned to the "gunline" and supported ARVN troops off Huế. The destroyer also fired night "Linebacker" strikes on 24 and 25 September, rounding out the month with gunfire support missions fired for the 1st ARVN division.
A visit to Hong Kong for needed rest and recreation for her crew soon followed, and an upkeep period at Subic Bay preceded the ship's return to Vietnamese waters on 21 October. She supported the ARVN 22d Division near Qui Nhon and around Quang Tri. She then again visited Subic Bay and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, before returning to the gunline again from 3 to 8 December. For the rest of the month, Towers fired gunfire support missions against North Vietnamese troop concentrations near Quang Tri. Spirited exchanges of gunfire with enemy shore batteries took place on numerous occasions during this period.
She finished the year 1972 again serving as plane guard for Constellation on "Yankee Station" and closed out her grueling seven-month deployment on the last day of the year, when she sailed for Yokosuka. From there, she returned home via Midway and Pearl Harbor.
This deployment turned out to be the destroyer's last in support of the Vietnam War. The "Vietnamization" plan placed the burden of self-defense on the shoulders of the South Vietnamese, as American land, sea, and air forces were withdrawn from combat in January and February 1973. Towers operated out of San Diego from 1973 through 1976, pursuing a regular schedule of local operations, routine upkeep and overhaul periods, and underway training evolutions.
She departed San Diego on 30 July 1976 for her first extended overseas deployment in three years. She conducted exercises and local operations in the Far East, participating in Exercise "Sharkhunt XVII" with the Taiwanese Navy before shifting to the Indian Ocean for an extended cruise. She then took part in "Midlink 76" with units of the Iranian, Pakistani, British, and American Navies in mid-November before participating in "Multiplex/Missilex-76" with United States 7th Fleet units in the South China Sea.
Following port visits to Hong Kong from 6 to 12 January and Bangkok from 29 January to 4 February 1977, Towers engaged in a coordinated ASW exercise, "Sharkhunt XX", with the Taiwanese Navy from 22 to 25 February. She returned to San Diego on 21 March to complete a seven-month, three-week deployment. Post-deployment operations off the west coast were highlighted by a port visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, from 9 to 17 July for the annual sea festival. Towers' last significant operations at sea for the year occurred during the period 12 to 16 September when she conducted naval gunfire support exercises on the range at San Clemente Island. On 23 September, the guided missile destroyer commenced a four-month availability at San Diego which took her into the new year.
Post-availability trials commenced on 26 January 1978, and Towers spent the next nine months evaluating her radar detection and tracking system during numerous at-sea operations for that purpose. On 14 November, the ship got underway for Long Beach where she entered the Naval Shipyard on the 15th for commencement of a regular overhaul which took her into 1979.
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