USS Askari (ARL-30) was laid down on 8 December
1944 at Seneca, Ill., by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; launched on 2 March 1945; and sponsored by Mrs. Patricia Ann Jacobsen as
LST-1131.
She was then ferried down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where the landing craft repair
ship was commissioned on 15 March 1945, Lt. Charles L. Haslup in command. On 28 March, she got
underway for Jacksonville, Fla., where she was decommissioned on 9 April 1945 for outfitting for
her role by the Merrill-Stevens Drydock & Repair Co. The ship was recommissioned as
USS Askari on
23 July 1945.
Early in August, the ship voyaged from Jacksonville to Norfolk where she remained until putting to sea on the 20th, bound for the Pacific Ocean. After transiting the Panama Canal and steaming north along the Pacific coast, she reached San Diego on 21 September. At the beginning of October,
Askari
shifted north to Seattle, and remained in the Puget Sound area at various locations-until
the spring of 1946. Early in April 1946, the ship headed south and arrived back at San
Diego on the 10th. She operated in that vicinity until sailing for the Marshall Islands on
12 December 1947. Steaming by way of Hawaii, the repair ship arrived at Eniwetok in the
Marshalls on 11 January 1948 and spent the next four months providing maintenance services
to the landing craft operating in support of Operation "Sandstone," nuclear bomb tests
conducted there late in April and early in May.
After the experiments ended. Askari left Eniwetok on 29 May and headed back-via Pearl Harbor-to San
Diego. She reached that port on 25 June and resumed local operations.
Her service at San Diego continued through the outbreak of fighting in Korea late in June
1950. The vessel sailed for the Far East on 10 August of that year, and arrived in Kobe, Japan, on 6
September. Four days later, she was underway to participate in the amphibious landing to be carried
out on the 15th
at Inchon on South Korea's western coast. Askari served at Inchon for slightly
over a month before moving to Wonsan on the eastern coast of North Korea late in October. Chinese communist
forces entered the conflict toward the end of November and sent the United Nations forces reeling
southward. A portion of those troops converged on Hungnam, located due north of Wonsan about 40 miles
distant, for evacuation. Askari shifted north from Wonsan to Hungnam to support the ships
and craft engaged in bringing out the troops. During December, she fueled, repaired, and provided other
services to the amphibious craft and ships transporting the troops. The evacuation ships embarked the last
infantrymen about mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, and Askari departed Hungnam with them.
Steaming via Pusan, she arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, on the last day of 1950.
She remained in Japan until departing Yokosuka on 9 February 1951 to return to Pusan.
There, the ship tended amphibious ships and craft until mid-April when she headed home. She spent 10 days
in Yokosuka before resuming her voyage to the United States.
Askari arrived in San
Diego on 26 May and remained there until she moved to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard during the second
week in July for overhaul. She completed repairs in mid-September 1951 and returned to amphibious
repair duties at San Diego on the 20th. On 31 July 1952, she stood out to sea and proceeded to the western
Pacific. Except for a brief visit to Kobe late in February 1953,
Askari spent the entire
deployment at
Yokosuka performing repair work in support of the amphibious ships and craft attached to
the 7th Fleet. The ship departed Yokosuka on 6 April 1953 to return to the United States and reentered
San Diego Bay on 3 May. After an overhaul at Mare Island that occupied most of the summer of 1953,
Askari
again took up repair duties at San Diego at the beginning of the second week in September. Just
over a year later, on 20 September 1954, she headed back toward the Far East.
This time, however, she charted a course for a new trouble spot-the coast of southeast
Asia. France's withdrawal from Indochina fragmented the peninsula into Laos; Cambodia; and two Vietnams:
a communist state in the north, and a democratic one in the south. The new political
arrangement prompted a massive migration of people in which the United States Navy was called upon to
carry out the seaborne portion of the movement. Askari arrived at Henriette Passe in Along
Bay near Haiphong in the north on 29 October and began providing repair and other support services for the
transports, tank landing ships and landing craft that would carry refugees from what would be communist
North Vietnam
to democratic South Vietnam in Operation "Passage to Freedom."
The ship ended her service on the Vietnamese coast on 18 November and promptly got
underway, via Hong Kong, for Japan. She arrived at Yokosuka on 4 December 1954, and four days later,
moved to Sasebo to conduct repair operations until 1 February 1955.
Askari departed Sasebo
on the latter date
to provide support services for the ships engaged in another humanitarian effort, the
evacuation of Nationalist Chinese from the Tachen Islands. She returned from that mission to Sasebo on
14 February and operated there for the remainder of the deployment. On 5 March 1955, she stood out of
Sasebo on
her way back to the United States.
The ship reached San Diego again on 4 April and worked at that port for about six months.
Late in October 1955, she moved north to Astoria, Oregon., and began preparations for inactivation.
Askari
was decommissioned there on 21 March 1956 and was berthed with the Columbia River Group,
Pacific Reserve Fleet.
Askari remained in reserve for slightly more than a decade. During her repose,
she was berthed first at Astoria; later moved to Stockton, Calif., and ended up at Mare
Island. In 1964, the United States began to intensify its involvement in the war between
the South Vietnamese Government and communist insurgents Operations in the swampy Mekong delta called for the use of a large number of
river assault craft and their attendant support ships. Accordingly,
Askari was taken to the
Willamette Iron & Steel Co. at Richmond, Calif., late in November 1965 to prepare for service in South Vietnam.
She was re-commissioned at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 13 August 1966, Lt. Commander. John F.
Campbell in
command.
The ship spent the next four months fitting out, conducting shakedown training, and
preparing to deploy to the Far East. She stood out of San Diego on 12 December 1966, bound for the western
Pacific. However, an engineering casualty to her main propulsion plant caused her to remain in
Pearl Harbor
longer than anticipated. She finally pulled into Subic Bay in the Philippines on 6
February 1967. There Askari loaded provisions, stores, and spare parts for five days before heading on
to her permanent assignment in South Vietnam. She steamed into Vung Tau harbor on 15 February and reported
for duty with River Assault Flotilla (RIVFLOT) ONE.
Askari spent the remainder of her Navy career providing repair
and other support services for the river monitors, motorboats, and amphibious craft attached to
Allied riverine forces in the Mekong delta. She stayed at Vung Tau until the second week
in June when she moved into the delta proper. The repair ship arrived at Nha Be on the
Soi Rap River about five miles south of Saigon on 13 June. The mobility of the riverine
forces was greatly enhanced by the fact that their base consisted of ships like
Askari
that could move with them throughout the delta and be close at hand to provide support
services. A permanent base ashore would not have afforded such immediacy. During 1967 and
most of 1968, Askari moved from location to location in the delta as the Mobile
Riverine Force's zone of operations changed. On 1 November 1968, Westchester
County (LST-1167), one of the ships that comprised the riverine force's mobile base, suffered
severe damage and lost a number of crewmen as a result of the explosion of two mines
attached to her hull by enemy swimmer-sappers. While continuing with her responsibilities
to the rest of the riverine force, Askari put forth most of the effort required
to salvage and to repair the tank landing ship.
At the end of 1968 the Mobile Riverine Force began to focus its attention on communist
logistic routes coming into the delta from Cambodia. During the second week in December,
Askari
moved to the vicinity of the Song Vam Co, Song Vam Co Dong and Song Vam Co Tay Rivers to support
friendly vessels in their prosecution of Operation "Giant Slingshot." Her labors in
behalf of the interdiction effort continued through the first eight months of 1969. At the beginning of September, the ship
departed Vietnamese waters to undergo repairs at Sasebo, Japan.
When she returned to Vietnam at the end of October 1969,
Askari
resumed repair duties, this time at Chau Doc, south of her previous base of operations. She remained there until 9 November when the base ships relocated to Long Xuyen their
station for the remainder of 1969 and most of the first quarter of 1970. Late in March 1970, she and the other support ships moved to Dong Tam and provided repair
services at that point until early May. On 9 May, she returned to the upper reaches of the
Mekong near the Cambodian border to resume support for efforts to stop the flow of
communist supplies. Early in June, the ship arrived back at Dong Tam to serve as the
primary support ship for River Assault Squadron 13 and River
Assault Squadron 15 until those squadrons turned over their
responsibilities to South Vietnamese forces later that month. Between 25 June and 31
August she operated successively in the upper Mekong at Binh Thuy on the lower Mekong
and then back at Dong Tam again. Except for a round-trip mission to deliver boat engines
to Song Bo De between 31 August and 8 September, Askari performed her support
functions at Dong Tam until the middle of December.
Thereafter, the ship continued to serve at various locations in the Mekong delta for nine
more months. In mid-August 1971, she proceeded from Vietnam to the Marianas on her last voyage for the
United States Navy. On 1 September 1971, Askari was decommissioned at Guam and turned over to
the Indonesian
Government under the terms of the Military Assistance Program. The Indonesian Navy
re-commissioned her that same day as Ri Djaja Widjaja. Because of her status as a loan,
Askari
remained on the Navy list until February 1979. At that time, her name was struck from the Navy list; and
she was permanently transferred to the Indonesian Navy by sale.
Awards earned during the Vietnam
War: Combat Action Ribbon, (2)
Presidential Unit Citation, (5) Navy Unit
Commendations, RVN Gallantry Cross with Palm,
RVN Civil Action Medal, First Class, with Palm,
RVN Campaign Medal with 60's device and the Vietnam
Service Medal with (12)
Battle Stars.
