USS Albert David (FF-1050) - History

History

For the remainder of 1968, Albert David completed outfitting at Bremerton, Washington, and conducted post-commissioning trials and tests. Those examinations continued into 1969. A voyage to Hawaii followed in March. Early in April, the ocean escort began five weeks of refresher training out of San Diego. On 1 May 1969, she was assigned to Long Beach, Calif., as her home port. She concluded refresher training eight days later and arrived in Long Beach on the 10th. On the 12th, however, Albert David headed back to Bremerton for an eight-week, post-shakedown availability at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The warship returned to sea on 7 July, bound for the coast of southern California and several days of operations out of San Diego. She returned to Long Beach on the 18th.

Albert David carried out normal operations from the base at Long Beach until the beginning of the second week in October. On 8 October, she stood out of Long Beach on her first deployment to the western Pacific. After steaming via Pearl Harbor and Midway Island, the warship arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, on 31 October. Albert David then served two weeks on the Taiwan Strait patrol and visited Subic Bay in the Philippines before reporting at Danang, South Vietnam, on 24 November to begin gunfire support duty. That assignment lasted until 10 December when, after a brief stop at Danang, the ocean escort headed for the Gulf of Tonkin. From the llth to the 18th, she operated on the south air-sea rescue (ASR) station in the gulf. On 16 December, Albert David joined company with USS Hancock (CVA-19) for two days of plane guard duty. The warship left station in the Gulf of Tonkin on 18 December and headed for Bangkok, Thailand, where her crew enjoyed a five-day port visit. On 30 December, she rendezvoused with USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) and began five weeks of plane guard duty with the carriers of Task Force (TF) 77.