1971

The first half of January was spent on Yankee Station followed by a week of liberty in Hong Kong and another week of upkeep in Subic Bay. On 1 February the ship was underway for DaNang and Naval Gunfire support off the coast of the Republic of Vietnam. The last week of February was devoted to plane guard duty on Yankee Station and to patrolling the North Search and Rescue Station (North SAR). OZBOURN's primary duties there included investigating unidentified surface ships and standing by to render assistance in case any of our planes were forced down in the Gulf.

March was spent in port at Subic for upkeep and maintenance, plane guard duty on Yankee Station and patrolling PIRAZ. On 1 April 1971 OZBOURN left Yankee Station. for the last time and headed back to Vietnam for a second tour of NGFS. This three week tour began in the Third Military Region and ended at the DMZ. After a brief stop at Subic, OZBOURN headed home on 25 April with. USS DEHAVEN (DD 727). OZBOURN arrived in Long Beach on 13 May, six months to the day after leaving.

During the deployment OZBOURN steamed over 41,000 miles, and conducted 44 underway replenishments. She received 2,653,279 gallons of fuel oil from various oilers and fueling stations. OZBOURN fired approximately 3850 rounds of 5 inch ammunition. Five months of the six month deployment were spent in the Vietnam combat zone. Eighty percent of the time was spent at sea, 15% was spent in port at Subic for maintenance and repairs, and only 5% was spent in two liberty ports. Of the final 100 days of OZBOURN's deployment, 92 days were spent at sea.

On 15 June Destroyer Division 92 of which OZBOURN was a member, was decommissioned. At this time OZBOURN was transferred into Destroyer Squadron 19, also home ported in Long Beach. On 17 June twenty five midshipmen reported aboard for a six week training cruise, PACMIDTRA ‘71, with eleven other First Fleet ships. The first week of the cruise was spent in the Southern California Operations Area, and then the task group headed north for San Francisco and Puget Sound Ports. OZBOURN was hosted by the City of Tacoma, Washington, for a most enjoyable four days before heading to Pearl Harbor, and finally arriving back in Long Beach on 4 August.

The period of 4 August to 20 September was spent in port at Long Beach preparing for OZBOURN'S four month shipyard overhaul, which lasted from 20 September through 18 January l972. On 23 December CDR NUMBERS was relieved as Commanding Officer by CDR Kenneth L. COSTILOW.

1972  >>