USS Rainier (AE-5) - Vietnam War

Vietnam War

In 1964, as the war in Vietnam expanded, Subic Bay became the focal point of Rainier’s 7th Fleet support activities. There when the Tonkin Gulf crisis occurred, 4-5 August, she put to sea immediately and steamed to the gulf to rearm carriers conducting strikes on North Vietnamese bases.

For the next months, Rainier operated between Subic Bay and replenishment areas off Vietnam. In late October, she sailed for Japan and in December, she arrived back at her homeport, Concord, California In the late spring of 1965, she resumed 7th Fleet operations and by January 1966, had transferred at sea almost 12,000 tons of ammunition, 83 tons of freight, and 11,500 pounds of mail. In February, she returned to Concord. In April, she moved to San Francisco for overhaul and, in August, began refresher training with new equipment aboard which increased her underway replenishment capabilities.

In February 1967, Rainier resumed her annual deployments to provide underway logistic support to the 7th Fleet. By 16 September, the date of her last at-sea munitions transfer on that tour, she had transferred 13,000 tons during 204 underway replenishments.

Departing Subic Bay on 25 September for her homeport, Rainier touched at Yokosuka, and Pearl Harbor before arriving at Concord on 25 October. Throughout the remainder of 1967 and the first half of 1968, Rainier conducted independent underway replenishment exercises and participated in fleet exercises along the southern California coast.

On 29 June, she departed Concord for the western Pacific, arriving at Subic Bay on 21 July. Following a week in port, Rainier got underway for her first replenishment cycle. It was during this first cycle that she was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E" for fiscal year 1968. On 21 November, during her sixth line cycle, Rainier established her best underway replenishment record by transferring 826 tons to USS Camden (AOE-2) in a 5-hour period.

By the end of the year the converted World War II C-2 cargo ship had transferred more than 11,000 tons in support of carriers, their escorts, and SAR vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin and to gunfire support and coastal surveillance units operating along South Vietnam's coast.

Rainier returned to Concord in February 1969 and following 6 months of operations along the west coast, once again deployed for the western Pacific. Upon completion of her last tour off Vietnam in January 1970, Rainier sailed for home and preparation for inactivation. She was decommissioned and struck from the Navy list on 7 August 1970.

Rainier (AE-5) earned four battle stars during the Korean War and eight off Vietnam.