1966

The time for her arrival in Long Beach on 7 February 1966 until 15 April was spent for upkeep and in restricted availability in the Long Beach Shipyard. On April 30, Commander John G. DENHAM relieved Commander Marvin D. NELSON as Commanding Officer.

May and June were spent in preparation for deployment to Western Pacific and on the 25th of June, OZBOURN and other ships of Destroyer Division 92 sailed for their new homeport in Yokosuka, Japan.

Destroyer Division NINETY-TWO arrived in Yokosuka, Japan on 15 July 1966. On 2 August 1966 after upkeep and logistics support OZBOURN and HOLLISTER participated in a minor ASW exercise off the coast of Japan until 12 August. During this exercise, three days were spent in Osaka, Japan as a port visit.

On 13 August 1966 OZBOURN and HOLLISTER departed Yokosuka for duty off Vietnam for NGFS duty in Task Unit 70.8.9. From Buckner Bay on 16 August OZBOURN proceeded independently to Subic Bay. En route, typhoon evasion was taken to pass between two typhoons. OZBOURN arrived on 18 August 1966 for special logistics support and was underway later the same day. OZBOURN proceeded to II Corps for NGFS duty in Task Group 70.8.9 The night of 19 August, while En route to I Corps, OZBOURN received FLASH orders to relieve the USS BUCK in Southern I Corps. At 0400 on August 20 the rendezvous was effected and the relief was accomplished by motor whaleboat. On 20-22 August OZBOURN provided NGFS for airborne spotters in Southern I Corps. On August 21 1966 OZBOURN responded to a request for immediate NGFS near Cap Mia about 60 miles south of DaNang. After 30 minutes of gun fire and satisfactory completion of the mission OZBOURN was credited with 16 enemy killed, 24 structures destroyed, 110 damaged and supplies and stores destroyed. On 22 August I Corps NGLO requested heavy destructive fire on a VC controlled unfriendly village. The I Corp Air Spotter provided the Following damage assessment for target 177, "cannot give you any more damage assessment not knowing what was here when you started. There is nothing left now. If I was passing overhead and did not know who did the shooting, I would say a B-52 hit it."

On 24 August OZBOURN proceeded to III Corps area for NGFS with the Amphibious Task Group (CTG 76.5) in Operation Deckhouse III. OZBOURN supported U.S. Marines ashore near Cape Jacques, Vietnam from 24 August until 29 August 1966. As a unit of Task Group 76.5 OZBOURN was commended for excellence as a NGF unit by COMUSMACV, COMSEVENTHFLT, and COMPHIBREADYGRU.

On 30 August 1966 OZBOURN was assigned as a NGFS unit in Task Unit 70.8.9 and assigned to III Corps NGLO at Vung Tau and the Rung Sa Special Zone (RSSZ) in the River de Saigon. On 31 August and 3 September the III Corps Spotter credited OZBOURN with 11 VC killed. One secondary explosion occurred when three enemy logistic installations were destroyed.

1966 cont. >>