In the spring of 1975, North Vietnamese forces occupied all of northern and central South Vietnam, and finally Saigon fell on 30 April 1975. However, Captain Kiem Do had secretly planned and then carried out the evacuation of a flotilla of thirty-five Vietnam Navy and other vessels, with 30,000 sailors, their families, and other civilians on board, and joined the U.S. Seventh Fleet when it sailed for Subic Bay, Philippines. Most of the Vietnamese ships were later taken into the Philippine Navy, though the LSM "Lam Giang" (HQ-402), fuel barge "HQ-474", and gunboat "Kéo Ngựa" (HQ-604) were scuttled after reaching the open sea and transferring their cargo of refugees and their crews to other ships.