Evacuation

I read recently that Viet Nam had accepted its first submarine - built elsewhere - delivered at the port of Cam Ranh Bay.  For those of you who remember the VietNam war, Cam Ranh & Danang were key ports where we had bases. In March 1975 - in the latter stages of the conflict - the Military Sealift Command was instrumental in lifting 113,000 refugees out of harm's way. The USLines had three conventional Challenger class - six hatch - vessels under contract to the MSC. Our SS PIONEER CONTENDER under command of Capt. Edward C. Flink was called upon to evacuate 6000 refugees from DaNang to CamRanh and repeated that operation followed by a third voyage carrying 16,600 refugees out of harms way - the largest group moved in a single ship during the evacuation effort. All told, three USLines vessels carried 80,000 souls to safety. It was truly a remarkable effort by our civilian crews during a very difficult time. The PIONEER CONTENDER was built in Quincy, Mass. in 1963 - length 560 feet - beam 75 feet. Many of these refugees were moved on to Guam and the Philippines to a new life.
tjs