Cambodia and Vietnam Operations
From 1959 through 1968 Leader alternated six WestPac cruises with U.S. West Coast mine warfare and mine countermeasure exercises. During her 1961 cruise. Leader became the first warship ever to visit the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh when she completed the 180-mile transit up the Mekong River on 27 August, under the command of Lt. Commander Frank Kauzlarich. On this same cruise she directed South Vietnamese units in minesweep training operations. During her tour with the U.S. 7th Fleet in 1965, Leader again operated off South Vietnam, this time under more serious circumstances. From June to August she performed special minesweeping operations and played a major role in the expanded American effort to assist the courageous people of Vietnam in their fight against Communist aggressors. Her tour completed, Leader returned to Long Beach 14 December to resume training operations.
Read more about this topic: USS Leader (MSO-490)
Famous quotes containing the words vietnam and/or operations:
“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.”
—Richard M. Nixon (b. 1913)
“There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of seeds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)