|
The guided missile
destroyer COCHRANE was commissioned at Bremerton, Washington, on 21
March 1964. A year later she left Pearl Harbor with the RENSHAW (DD-499)
for her first deployment with the Seventh Fleet. By April 1965 she was
supporting a carrier strike force off Vietnam. In 1966 she was flagship
for the mid-Pacific Gemini 8 recovery group, participated in operations
with Japanese and South Korean defense forces, and served as an
antiaircraft picket and surface surveillance ship, as carrier plane
guard, and as a gunfire support ship in the Gulf of Tonkin and South
China Sea. The COCHRANE later took part in antisubmarine warfare
exercises with Royal Navy units and rescued an airman who had fallen
overboard from the carrier KEARSARGE (CVS-33). During her two gunfire
support assignments, her gunners blasted enemy assembly areas, protected
a truck convoy traveling between Da Nang to Dong Ha, and shelled enemy
harbor sites and other targets.
In March 1968 the
COCHRANE returned to the combat zone, operating above the demilitarized
zone (DMZ) near Cap Lay. She fired in support of the Third Marine
Division and escorted the REEVES (DLG-24) on the Northern Search and
Rescue Station. She returned to the gun line before relieving the
EPPERSON (DD-719) off the coast of North Vietnam. She was back on Yankee
Station in May for plane guard duty during which she recovered, but
could not save the life of a pilot from the ENTERPRISE (CVAN-65). The
COCHRANE continued a schedule of gun line and plane guard duty through
June when she and the OZBOURN (DD-846) were fired on and subsequently
destroyed a shore battery near Dong Hoi. On 3 July she joined the ST.
PAUL (CA-73), BOSTON (CAG-1), TURNER JOY (DD-951), HENRY B. WILSON
(DDG-7), O’BRIEN (DD-725), BENNER (DD-807), and BOYD (DD-544) for a
massive air, sea, and land offensive against enemy troops around the
DMZ. Returning to Pearl Harbor she stood by for possible recovery of the
Apollo 7 manned space flight, the Apollo 8 moon orbital flight, and in
March 1969, Apollo 9. Her 1969 WESTPAC deployment included operations
off Korea and on Yankee Station and gun fire support in Da Nang Harbor
and at Chu Lai. She relieved the BENJAMIN STODDERT (DDG-22) on the gun
line in September and fired missions around Phan Thiet, Da Nang, and Chu
Lai. October found her supporting troops in the II and I Corps areas.
Visits to Subic Bay, Kaoshiung, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and carrier
operations concluded her Far East deployment.
The COCHRANE spent most
of 1970 undergoing overhaul and testing her new Tartar missiles. She was
bound for Vietnam in February 1971. While plane guarding for the RANGER
(CVA-61), she rescued the crew of an F-4 Phantom and the pilot of an A-6
Intruder. In March she was in the Gulf of Thailand supporting South
Vietnamese troops. Thereafter, she engaged in plane guard and search and
rescue duty on Yankee Station, evaded typhoons, and visited Australia
before returning to Pearl Harbor. In July 1972 she began another WestPac
deployment and a month later was firing in defense of the city of Quang
Tri. Early in September she took part in Operation Linebacker,
conducting 120 missions, patrolling offshore by day and making
high-speed raids on enemy positions at night. She fired 6,000 rounds of
5-inch ammunition and received 1,500 rounds of hostile fire, suffering
shrapnel damage during one nighttime raid in October. She alternated
time on the gun line with Linebacker strikes until December when she
retired to Subic Bay for repair of her guns. She returned to the gun
line and then resumed Linebacker duty when the GOLDSBOROUGH (DDG-20)
received a direct hit.
She began 1973 in a
duel with enemy coastal batteries around Hon La followed by Linebacker
operations in the same area. With the end of the war on 28 January, she
headed for home with the PREBLE (DLG-15), RATHBURNE (DE-1057), and
BRONSTEIN (DE-1037). Overhaul and refresher training carried the
COCHRANE up to her October 1974 WestPac deployment with the KNOX
(DE-1052), WHIPPLE (DE-1062), and RATHBURNE. The tour included a visit
to Singapore with the CONSTELLATION (CVA-64), BERKELEY (DDG-15), and
STEIN (DE-1065); a trip to the Persian Gulf; and exercises with the
Royal Thai Navy.
Early in 1975 the
COCHRANE covered the evacuation of hundreds of Vietnamese refugees and
Americans from the Saigon area. Back in Pearl Harbor in June, she
participated in filming an episode of TV’s “Hawaii Five-O.” Her 1976
WestPac deployment found her with the MIDWAY (CVA-41) in the Korean
Straits during increased tensions around the demilitarized zone. Fleet
exercises, medical evacuation operations with the CORAL SEA (CVB-43),
U.S./French antisubmarine warfare exercises, a year-long overhaul, and
operations with the ROBERT E. PEARY (FF-1073), BREWTON (DE-1086), and
CAMDEN (AOE-2) took her through 1978. The COCHRANE’s South Pacific
deployment in 1979 included stops in Samoa, Guam, Midway, New Caledonia,
Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Tonga.
In the Western Pacific
in October 1980 she picked up two boat loads of Vietnamese refugees and
delivered them to Singapore. Over the next four years, she was occupied
with WestPac tours, overhaul, and a change of home port to Yokosuka. In
1985 she recovered two crew members of a downed MIDWAY aircraft. The
COCHRANE operated in the Japan, Philippine, and South China seas and
served with the NEW JERSEY (BB-62) and RANGER battle groups in 1986. She
continued similar operations with cruises into the Arabian Sea and the
Indian Ocean through 1989. Following operations out of Pohang, South
Korea, and Subic Bay, the COCHRANE was decommissioned at Yokosuka on 1
October 1990. She is currently at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility
at Pearl Harbor, however, a contract has been awarded for scrapping. |
