page_title: USS Wainwright (CG-28)
section_title: Vietnam War
hierarchical_section_title: USS Wainwright (CG-28) / Vietnam War
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser USS Wainwright (DLG-28) underway during the ship's 3rd Vietnam War deployment to the Western Pacific in late 1970 and early 1971.
context_page_description: USS Wainwright, a Belknap-class destroyer leader, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for members of the Wainwright family; specifically, Commander Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, his son, Master Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, Jr., and his cousin, Commander Richard Wainwright, as well as Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright, the son of Commander Richard Wainwright, and Commander Richard Wainwright, the son of Admiral Wainwright. Her keel was laid down on 2 July 1962 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works Corporation. She was launched on 25 April 1965 sponsored by Mrs. Richard W. Wainwright; and commissioned on 8 January 1966 at the Boston Naval Shipyard with Captain Robert P. Foreman in command.
context_section_description: On 6 January 1967, Wainwright got underway for Boston and post-shakedown availability. She concluded that repair period and headed back to Charleston on 15 March. Following local operations there, the guided missile destroyer embarked upon her first deployment to the western Pacific on 10 April. She transited the Panama Canal a week later and arrived in San Diego, California, on 23 April. For almost a month, she conducted exercises off the coast of southern California before heading west on 15 May. After brief stops at Pearl Harbor and Guam, Wainwright entered Subic Bay in the Philippines on 3 June.
  Three days later, she arrived on station in the Tonkin Gulf and, on 8 June, took over positive identification radar advisory zone (PIRAZ) duties from Long Beach. In that capacity, Wainwright maintained constant radar and visual surveillance of the gulf and adjoining coasts for the purpose of identifying all aircraft in the zone and vectoring defensive forces to the interception of any possible airborne enemy intruders. Because of the relative immobility necessary to those duties, she also served as a reference point to guide American strike aircraft to their targets ashore. Since her duties afforded her a continual picture of the events occurring in the air over the zone, she also served as a base for search and rescue (SAR) helicopters. During that first line period, one SAR helicopter crashed Wainwright's flight deck area; but the damage proved to be minimal, and the destroyer was able to resume full-scale flight operations the following day. Damage to the superstructure of the helicopter storage compartment consisted of a gash provided by a helicopter blade.  The helicopter was ordered to be pushed over the side as a result of the damage to it.
  After a one-week upkeep period out of a scheduled two week period at Sasebo, Japan, Wainwright was called back to PIRAZ duty secondary to a fire aboard USS Forrestal in July 1967. Wainwright resumed PIRAZ duty on 12 August. Her 27 days on station ended on 8 September when she cleared the gulf for a five-day visit to Hong Kong. On 15 September, she stood out of the British colony to return to Vietnamese waters. During that third and final tour, she served as a screen commander for two of the attack aircraft carriers operating on "Yankee Station" located in the southern reaches of the Tonkin Gulf as well as antiaircraft warfare command ship for all of Task Force (TF) 77. On 28 September, Wainwright completed her final assignment in the combat zone and departed the Tonkin Gulf. En route home, she visited Subic Bay; Sydney, Australia; Wellington, New Zealand; and Tahiti. The warship retransited the Panama Canal on 12 November and reentered Charleston four days later.
  The guided missile destroyer ended 1967 and began 1968 at Charleston. On 19 January 1968, she exited her home port and headed for Newport, Rhode Island, where she served as school ship for the Destroyer School from 21 January to 3 February before returning to Charleston on 5 February. Her operations from her home port, including Operation "Rugby Match" exercises in the West Indies, lasted until she sailed for the western Pacific on 24 June. The warship transited the Panama Canal on 29 June, stopped briefly at Pearl Harbor from 11 to 15 July and at Guam on 21 July, and arrived at Subic Bay on 26 July. Four days later, she embarked upon the first tour of combat duty of her 1968 deployment. She stopped at Da Nang for briefings on 2 August and then relieved Sterett on PIRAZ station on 4 August. During the following 41 days, she left her station only once — to evade a typhoon — and returned immediately after the storm passed. On 14 September, she turned PIRAZ duties back over to Sterett and steamed off for a month of port visits which included a brief upkeep period at Subic Bay followed by calls at Hong Kong and Yokosuka. On 13 October, she headed from Japan directly to the PIRAZ station and relieved Sterett once more. The 27 days of her second line period passed even more routinely than those of the first, and she cleared the T
caption: Wainwright during third Vietnam War deployment.
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