USS Cleveland

USS Cleveland (LPD-7), an , was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city in Ohio. Her keel was laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on 7 May 1966, and was commissioned on 21 April 1967 at Norfolk, Virginia. At the time of decommissioning, she was the third-oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy, behind ("Old Ironsides") and . After commissioning, Cleveland changed homeport to San Diego, California, to become a member of the Pacific Fleet's Amphibious Force. Cleveland divided her time between operations in the Eastern Pacific and extended deployments to the Western Pacific. Cleveland was normally assigned as part of an Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) and, with her embarked Marines and other forces, performed a wide variety of missions. 1960s to 1980s Cleveland first saw action during the Tet Offensive in 1968. In 1972 Cleveland served close in shore in the DMZ region as a platform for seven Marine AH-1 Cobra helicopters performing operations on NVA troop and supply lines. In January 1973 Cleveland was in a task force on its way to make a landing with Marines in North Vietnam when the Paris peace treaty was signed. After the Vietnam War cease-fire in January 1973, Cleveland joined Task Force 78 in the mine-clearing effort of Haiphong Harbor and Operation End Sweep. Cleveland then began a series of seven Western Pacific deployments between 1974 and 1985. The ship was assigned duties as the United States Third Fleet flagship from January through November 1988. Cleveland then briefly shifted focus to environmental protection when she deployed to Prince William Sound, Alaska, in support of oil spill cleanup efforts associated with the Exxon Valdez disaster.