1965-1969
Wiltsie sailed for the western Pacific on 5 January 1965, in company with the 16 other ships of Cruiser Destroyer Flotilla 7. Wiltsie was diverted to duty with Coral Sea and Hancock during bombing raids on Viet Cong positions in South Vietnam in February.
The destroyer spent 69 of her next 80 days at sea in Vietnamese waters. She served in a variety of roles, including antisubmarine warfare screening ship, plane guard destroyer, and early warning picket ship. In March, before proceeding to Hong Kong, she shadowed a Russian intelligence ship which was gathering information on American task groups.
Wiltsie again sailed for Vietnam and operated with TG 71.1 on Operation Market Time, engaged in patrolling the South Vietnamese coastline.
In May and June, Wiltsie conducted several gunfire support missions against Viet Cong supply depots and troop concentrations in South Vietnam. During this deployment, Wiltsie transferred 64.2 short tons of stores from Mars (AFS-1) by the vertical replenishment method.
Following a visit to Japan in mid-June, Wiltsie returned to the United States, arriving at San Diego on 2 July. Wiltsie next underwent a period of repairs and refresher training which carried over into 1966. After taking part in training evolutions off the west coast in the spring, Wiltsie again headed for the Orient on 4 June 1966. While at Guam for a refueling stop, the destroyer suffered slight damage on 22 June when a fuel barge collided with the ship, necessitating repairs which delayed her for 15 hours.
On 2 July, Wiltsie commenced duty with TU 70.8.9, a naval gunfire support unit.
After a brief period of upkeep, Wiltsie proceeded to the northern search and rescue (SAR) station, approximately 50 miles east of the North Vietnamese port of Haiphong, to stand by with Towers ready to recover downed airmen. For two periods—from 31 July to 2 September and from 28 September to 1 November, Wiltsie patrolled the northern SAR station. In August and again in October, the destroyer participated in rescues from the waters off the North Vietnamese coast, saving a total of nine men. The ship acted as a refueling vessel for units of Helicopter Squadron 6.
Upon completion of these SAR duties, Wiltsie prepared for her homeward voyage. She called at the port of Hualien, Taiwan, on 4 November, for a five-day visit. She departed Nationalist Chinese waters on 10 November, made a fuel stop at Okinawa the next day, and arrived at Yokosuka on 14 November.
Wiltsie joined TG 77.8, based around Constellation, and stood out of Yokosuka on 22 November, bound for the west coast. Three days out, the task group ran into bad weather. High winds prevailed for five days, and all ships suffered moderate storm damage. The heavy seas battered open a seam forward in Wiltsie; caused three cracks in the fantail area of the main deck and the loss of two ladders; and ripped two holes in the port bow of the motor whaleboat.
An underway replenishment with Sacramento (AOE-1) on the evening of 29 November turned out to be a difficult affair. Only after three separate approaches, seven fuel hose separations, and seven hours alongside was the fueling completed. The ship remained blackened by oil on parts of her superstructure and hull sides until after she arrived at San Diego on 3 December. Wiltsie moored at San Diego for upkeep which would last into the new year, 1967.
Following operations off the southern California coast, Wiltsie departed San Diego on 19 September 1967. After stopovers at Pearl Harbor and Guam, the destroyer arrived at Subic Bay on 11 October. Shifting to Da Nang, South Vietnam, soon afterwards, Wiltsie moved to the northern SAR station on 21 October and shifted to the southern SAR station five days later. Typhoon "Emma" forced the ship to sortie from Tonkin Gulf on 5 November, before the storm abated enough to allow the ship to resume her operations on the 7th.
During this tour, she assisted in the search for two men lost overboard from William V. Pratt (DDG-44). King (DLG-10) and Chevalier (DD-805) also took part, but high seas and strong winds hampered search operations and prevented any of the ships from sighting the men.
On 13 November, Wiltsie relieved Buck (DD-761) on the northern SAR station, only to be relieved in turn by Rogers (DD-876). After rest and relaxation at Hong Kong, an upkeep alongside Klondike (AD-22), and an in-port period at Subic Bay, Wiltsie returned to the SAR station in Tonkin Gulf, operating in company with King. During this second deployment, Wiltsie participated in six rescues involving 10 men. The first took place at 1420 on 22 December, when an A-7 Corsair II from VA-147 went down at a position some 40 miles northwest of King.
An intensive search failed to locate the downed plane's pilot, and all search aircraft were vectored back to their base. Wiltsie refueled a helicopter during this period when the chopper approached the ship low on fuel. The Christmas cease-fire which went into effect on 25 December resulted in only photo-reconnaissance flights being run against North Vietnam; no SAR opportunities were thus presented to Wiltsie and King until 29 December, when an F-4 Phantom of VF-161 (Coral Sea) crashed 51 miles from the northern SAR station among some islands off the coast near Haiphong. King guided a helicopter to the scene and it picked up both pilots—cold but well—and returned them to their carrier, Coral Sea.
Monsoons limited air action over the last few days of 1967 and the first few days of 1968. Two Oriskany planes went down on 10 January 1968; Wiltsie provided communications relays where necessary and closely plotted aircraft positions, while King assumed air control function and direction. The latter's UH-2 helicopter picked up two pilots from one of the planes while a logistics helo plucked the crewman of the second plane from the water. Later in the day, King picked up two more downed pilots, giving her a total of four for the day.
After being relieved by De Haven (DD-727) and Reeves (DLG-24), King sailed to Subic Bay and Wiltsie to Hong Kong before she, too, headed for Subic Bay, where she arrived on the 23d. Three days later, while at Subic Bay, Wiltsie received word of the capture of the American intelligence-gathering vessel Pueblo (AGER-2). On the following day, Wiltsie and King sailed for SAR station to relieve De Haven and Reeves a day early.
When the SAR station was shifted south, Wiltsie, King, and the PIRAZ station ship Belknap (DLG-26) conducted joint patrols in the heavy weather hanging over the station. Wiltsie's SAR tour was largely uneventful, as monsoon activity curtailed American air strikes over the north, and no opportunities presented themselves to pick up airmen.
Relieved by Southerland (DD-743) on station on 17 February, Wiltsie sailed to Subic Bay where she offloaded part of her ammunition in preparation for the cruise home. Departing there on 22 February in company with Buck and King, Wiltsie and her consorts made a fuel stop at Darwin and visited Brisbane from 2 to 7 March before proceeding on to the west coast of the United States.
Following stops at Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Pearl Harbor, for fuel, Wiltsie moored at San Diego on 23 March and remained there into May. On 22 May, she became schoolship for an engineering officers' course and performed this duty until 9 June Assigned plane guard duties for Hancock during that ship's carrier qualification evolution from 10 to 22 June, Wiltsie put her own motor whaleboat in the water on one occasion when one of the carrier's F-8 Crusaders went into the water immediately after takeoff. However, Hancock's rescue helo effected the rescue before the destroyer's boat arrived.
On the 26th, Wiltsie sailed for San Francisco Bay to undergo an overhaul at the naval shipyard at Vallejo, California. Emerging from the yard on 6 November, Wiltsie spent the remainder of 1968 in refresher training which continued into the spring of 1969.
Departing San Diego on 16 April 1969, in company with the remainder of DesDiv 72—Buck, John W. Thomason (DD-760), and Perkins (DD-877)—Wiltsie participated in type training evolutions with Oriskany before arriving at Pearl Harbor on 24 April. Underway again soon afterwards, bound for the ship's WestPac deployment, Wiltsie refueled at Midway, steamed on picket station ahead of Oriskany, and arrived at Subic Bay on 10 May.
Underway for Yankee Station soon afterwards, Wiltsie arrived there on 16 May and was soon shuffled between three carriers—Oriskany, Bon Homme Richard, and Ticonderoga—within a 24-hour span, serving successively as plane guard for each. Returning to Subic Bay in company with Ticonderoga on 20 May, Wiltsie underwent a tender upkeep alongside Klondike (AD-22) before being shifted to Sasebo, Japan. At Sasebo from 29 May to 6 June, Wiltsie then deployed to Yankee Station to provide "shotgun" services for Benjamin Stoddert (DDG-22). When Wiltsie's evaporators broke down on the 10th, the destroyer was relieved by Douglas H. Fox (DD-779) and headed back to Sasebo for repairs.
She subsequently operated in the Sea of Japan escorting Sterett (DLG-31) for three weeks before returning to Sasebo on 13 July. Eleven days later, the destroyer departed Japanese waters, bound for the Vietnam war zone.
Wiltsie provided plane guard services for Bonhomme Richard until detached to join Biddle (DLG-34) and Chicago (CG-11) on the south SAR station. After conducting antisubmarine warfare exercises en route, Wiltsie spent from 7 to 10 August on south SAR before deploying to the PIRAZ station with King on the 10th, llth, and 12th. Returning to south SAR on the 13th, she remained at sea there for the remainder of August.
After rejoining Bonhomme Richard, Wiltsie escorted the carrier to Sasebo, Japan, from 2 to 4 September. Following a period of upkeep and recreation there, the destroyer visited Hong Kong en route to her final commitment in the yietnamese war zone. She was deployed on Yankee Station for the remainder of September, and the destroyer then shifted to Subic Bay. There, she prepared for a gunnery exercise and proceeded to sea on 10 October for operations with Craig (DD-885) and Cochrane (DDG-21). On that day, Wiltsie participated in sinking the after section of the hull of Frank E. Evans (DD-754), the destroyer that had been cut in two during a collision with Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne the previous 3 June.
Rendezvousing with Bonhomme Richard soon afterwards, Wiltsie and the carrier steamed to Japan, arriving at Yokosuka on 15 October. Two days later, with ComDesDiv 72 embarked, Wiltsie got underway with the remainder of her division to escort Bonhomme Richard back to the United States and arrived at San Diego at the end of a fortnight's voyage. For the remainder of 1969, the destroyer remained in her home port.
Wiltsie conducted an ASW training operation early in January 1970 and returned to San Diego on the 8th. Between that day and 15 April, Wiltsie remained in port. During this time, she suffered hull damage while moored alongside John W. Thomason. "Exceptionally high winds" buffeted the ships together when a mooring camel between the two ships overturned, opening riveted seams in Wiltsie's hull. On 13 March 1970, Wiltsie was drydocked at the San Diego Marine and Shipbuilding Co. and was under repairs there until 7 April.
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