Thursday, September 23, 2010

USS Whipple (FF-1062): Hong Kong 1972

USS Whipple (FF-1062) Hong Kong 1972
A weekly image from my archive. Click on the image to make it larger.
From June 1972 the USS Whipple and the USS Lexington in Hong Kong harbor. It was pretty easy to identify these ships but in doing so what was also interesting was that on Wikipedia there is a deep description of the Whipple's activities during this period (less so the Lexington CV-16 which at the time was a training ship):

After a brief period planeguarding on "Dixie" and "Yankee" stations for Hancock, Whipple received a needed upkeep at Danang from 3 to 10 May while Piedmont (AD-17) replaced the escort's 5-inch (127 mm) gun. She then returned to "Yankee" Station where she once more operated with Hancock, conducting escort and plane-guarding operations through June. Following availability at Subic Bay and a visit to Hong Kong, Whipple returned to the line and provided gunfire support in the vicinity of Point "Claudia" for the Republic of Vietnam's 1st and 3d Divisions. From 17 to 25 June, she fired harassment and interdiction missions at night and made runs during daylight hours in which she was aided by OV-1 Mohawks which pinpointed enemy bunker complexes, rocket sites, and supply routes.

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