USS Wiltsie (DD-716) was a in the United States Navy. She was named for Irving Wiltsie. The destroyer entered service in 1946 and remained active with the United States Navy until 1977, when Wiltsie was decommissioned and sold to Pakistan in 1977. The vessel entered service with the Pakistan Navy as PNS Tariq (D165) in 1978. In 1990, the ship was renamed PNS Nazim to allow the name Tariq to be given to a newly-acquired Type 21 frigate. The ship was then transferred to the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and used as an alongside "at sea" headquarters for the agency. Though afloat, the vessel no longer sails.
Service history Wiltsie was laid down on 13 March 1945 at Port Newark, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. The destroyer was launched on 31 August 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Irving D. Wiltsie, the widow of Captain Wiltsie. The vessel was commissioned on 12 January 1946 at the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York.
1946–1950 Following a shakedown cruise which took the ship to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Wiltsie transited the Panama Canal on 8 July 1946 and proceeded to San Diego, California. She spent the fall and winter of 1946 engaged in training exercises before departing the west coast on 6 January 1947, bound for the Far East. She subsequently operated out of Qingdao, China, on exercises and maneuvers while standing by the American community in that port during rising local tensions between the communist and Nationalist Chinese. Wiltsie remained at Qingdao until June 1947, when she shifted to Sasebo, Japan, for occupation duty. Departing Sasebo on 8 March 1948, the destroyer proceeded to Bremerton, Washington, for an overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
After training off the west coast, Wiltsie sailed once more for the Far East, departing San Diego on 1 October. Late that autumn, she again operated out of Qingdao during the evacuation of Americans from that port to Yokohama because of the Chinese Civil War then raging. During this period, Wiltsie briefly visited Hong Kong and Okinawa before returning to Qingdao.
Chinese Communist forces rolled southward, and Nanking fell in April 1949. Wiltsie arrived at Shanghai on 22 April, to stand by during the evacuation of all foreign nationals from the city. Over the ensuing days, Wiltsie watched a veritable parade of merchant vessels of many nationalities—Chinese, Dutch, Norwegian, French, Danish, British, and American—as well as American, British, and Chinese naval vessels. On 5 May 1949, 20 days before the fall of the city to the communists, Wiltsie departed Chinese waters for the last time, bound for Buckner Bay, Okinawa.
From there, Wiltsie soon headed homeward and made port at San Diego on 4 June 1949. She later moved up the coast; embarked NROTC midshipmen at Treasure Island, near San Francisco, California on 1 August; and departed the following day for a training cruise to Balboa, Panama, and the Galápagos Islands. Returning to San Diego on 31 August, the destroyer soon sailed for Hawaii, where she participated in Operation "Miki", a mock invasion of the Hawaiian Islands in which Army, Navy, and Air Force units all took part. Returning to the west coast soon afterwards, Wiltsie spent the period from December 1949 to April 1950 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, undergoing an overhaul.
1950–1953 (Korean War) In July 1950, Wiltsie sailed for the Far East to augment the American naval presence in Korean waters.
On the evening of 16 August, , with four landing ship tanks (LSTs) and escorting destroyers, closed the coast. Captain J. R. Clark, Commander, Destroyer Division 111, embarked in the recently arrived Wiltsie, assumed direction of the embarkation operation for the Republic of Korea (ROK) troops. He ordered the four LSTs to beach at a pre-arranged site, guided in by jeep headlights from shore. Before sunrise the next day, 327 officers and 3,480 soldiers of the ROK 3rd Division, 1,260 civilians, and 100 vehicles had been loaded.
American forces went ashore at Inchon on 15 September 1950. Wiltsie participated in one phase of this assault, screening the fast aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 (TF 77)— , , and —as their aircraft hit enemy ground targets to support the advance of troops ashore. For the remainder of the deployment, Wiltsie supported United Nations troops ashore with call-fire support; screened TF 77 as it conducted air strikes against supply lines and troop concentrations; and patrolled in the Taiwan Strait.
Wiltsie returned to San Diego in March 1951, underwent repairs at Long Beach, California and subsequently departed the west coast for her fourth tour of duty in the Far East. In Korean waters, she resumed her screening, call-fire, and interdiction duties. Highlighting her blockading activities of Wonsan, Wiltsie fired retaliatory gunfire missions against enemy shore batteries.
Wiltsie returned to the west coast late in 1952, but soon found herself back in the Far East for her third Korean War deployment. After leaving the west coast on 2 January 1953, the destroyer patrolled the Formosa Strait for a time and operated off the North Korean coast before shifting to Wonsan. The Navy continued it operations to support UN ground troops, interdicted enemy supply lines by air and by surface gunfire, and blockaded the enemy's coasts.
Eight days after Wiltsie and had destroyed a train near Tanchon on 3 June, enemy shore batteries took Wiltsie under fire off Wonsan, lobbing 45 shells in her direction, scoring a hit on the destroyer's fantail. The ship suffered no casualties and soon resumed her local patrol operations. On 15 June, Wiltsie evacuated 13 Korean civilians from Yo-do Island to Sokcho-ri.
While preparing to abandon the Wonsan siege in accordance with the armistice stipulations, Wiltsie screened minesweeping operations and joined in the last-minute shelling of enemy ground targets. In company with and , Wiltsie shelled targets at Wonsan until a few minutes before the 2200 deadline. On 27 July 1953, the Korean armistice finally came into effect. However, Wiltsie remained in Korean waters, screening the continuing minesweeping operations between Hungnam and Wonsan until 6 August 1953.
1953–1961 Wiltsie conducted seven Western Pacific deployments between 1953 and 1961. During each tour, she carried out training and patrol assignments in Far Eastern waters, operating off the coasts of Japan, Korea, and Okinawa; visiting such ports as Yokosuka, Kobe, and Sasebo, Japan; Hong Kong; and Philippine ports such as Olongapo and Manila. Also during this time, she plane-guarded for fast carrier task forces, patrolled the Taiwan Strait, and undertook antisubmarine warfare and gunnery training exercises.
Between deployments to WestPac and the Far East, Wiltsie underwent regular overhaul and repair periods at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. In addition, she conducted an NROTC midshipman training cruise; visited Seattle, Washington, and Esquimalt, British Columbia; and visited Melbourne, Australia, in May 1959 to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea.
1961–1964 In November 1961, Wiltsie began a 10-month scheduled overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Pearl Harbor, in which she underwent Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) alterations. She received an enclosed bridge; a helicopter hangar and landing platform; triple-mounted Mk. 32 torpedo tubes; an ASROC launcher; and late model radar and sonar. She also received many improvements in accommodations for both officers and enlisted men. Following this "face lift", Wiltsie conducted refresher training and upkeep before becoming flagship of DesDiv 72, home-ported in San Diego.
Following sonar calibrations at Puget Sound, Wiltsie spent one week off southern California, participating in exercises. After the conclusion of this maneuver, Wiltsie departed the west coast for the Far East, leaving San Diego on 18 May 1963. Arriving at Yokosuka on 6 June, via Pearl Harbor and Midway, Wiltsie soon got underway for a 30-day Taiwan Strait mission. During this time, she visited Keelung and Kaohsiung, Formosa. Her scheduled rest period at Hong Kong at the end of the assignment had to be cancelled because of a typhoon.
Returning to Yokosuka for upkeep on 30 July, Wiltsie departed in early August for participation in Exercise "Tire Iron." Wiltsie subsequently operated out of Sasebo and Yokosuka into the fall of 1963; she departed Sasebo on 29 October and operated briefly with TG 77.6 until 10 November, when she was detached to return home. After a stop at Pearl Harbor, the destroyer made port at San Diego on 24 November.
In January 1964, Wiltsie joined , Theodore E. Chandler, and in anti-aircraft warfare exercises off the west coast and served as a plane guard for the carrier. She subsequently moved westward to the middle Pacific with Ticonderoga and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 18 February. After completing her exercises in Hawaiian waters, she returned to the west coast in the spring and participated in anti-submarine and anti-air warfare training with and .
In June, Wiltsie embarked midshipmen for a six-week training program and later underwent ten days of hull repairs at Long Beach. Later in the month, she participated in exercises in support of Marine Corps units engaged in night reconnaissance and in amphibious and paratroop landing training at San Clemente Island and at Camp Del Mar, California.
Drydocked during August and September for hull and sonar dome repair, Wiltsie put to sea soon afterwards for tests and trials of her DASH (drone antisubmarine helicopter) qualification system which ended successfully on 3 November. The destroyer subsequently participated in Operation "Union Square", an extensive fleet exercise, before returning to San Diego to prepare for the ship's 14th WestPac deployment.
1965–1969 Wiltsie sailed for the western Pacific on 5 January 1965, in company with the 16 other ships of Cruiser Destroyer Flotilla 7. Wiltsie was diverted to duty with Coral Sea and during bombing raids on Viet Cong (VC) positions in South Vietnam in February.
The destroyer spent 69 of the next 80 days at sea in Vietnamese waters in a variety of roles, including antisubmarine warfare screening ship, plane guard destroyer, and early warning picket ship. In March, before proceeding to Hong Kong, she shadowed a Russian intelligence ship which was gathering information on American task groups.
Wiltsie again sailed for Vietnam and operated with TG 71.1 on Operation Market Time, engaged in patrolling the South Vietnamese coastline. In May and June, Wiltsie conducted several gunfire support missions against VC supply depots and troop concentrations in South Vietnam. During this deployment, Wiltsie transferred of stores from by the vertical replenishment method.
Following a visit to Japan in mid-June, Wiltsie returned to the United States, arriving at San Diego on 2 July. Wiltsie next underwent a period of repairs and refresher training which carried over into 1966. After taking part in training evolutions off the west coast in the spring, Wiltsie again headed for the Orient on 4 June 1966. While at Guam for a refueling stop, the destroyer suffered slight damage on 22 June when a fuel barge collided with the ship, necessitating repairs which delayed her for 15 hours. On 2 July, Wiltsie commenced duty with TU 70.8.9, a naval gunfire support unit.