USS Wainwright (DLG/CG-28), a destroyer leader, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for members of the Wainwright family; specifically, Commander Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, his son, Master Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright Jr., and his cousin, Commander Richard Wainwright, as well as Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright, the son of Commander Richard Wainwright, and Commander Richard Wainwright, the son of Admiral Wainwright. Her keel was laid down on 2 July 1962 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works Corporation. She was launched on 25 April 1965 sponsored by Mrs. Richard W. Wainwright; and commissioned on 8 January 1966 at the Boston Naval Shipyard.
Shakedown
Between January and May, the guided missile cruiser completed her outfitting at Boston, Massachusetts. On 21 May, she departed Boston, initially to test the Navy's newest sonar equipment and then to proceed to her home port, Charleston, South Carolina. During the months of June, July, and early August, she operated out of that port along the eastern seaboard and in the West Indies. During this period, she made six highly successful missile firings on the Atlantic Fleet weapon range and conducted a three-day search for an unidentified submarine contact. Though no positive identification of the submarine could be made, Wainwright did establish contact with her new long-range sonar and then tracked the vessel for a time.
On 13 August, the ship returned to Charleston for 15 days of upkeep in preparation for shakedown training, upon which she embarked on 28 August. At the conclusion of shakedown, she proceeded to Culebra Island for both gun and Terrier missile shoots. She returned to Charleston in October to prepare for the annual Atlantic Fleet exercise. On 28 November, the guided missile cruiser stood out of Charleston for 17 days of drills, including replenishment exercises, weapon coordination drills, and formation steaming maneuvers and tactics. She returned home on 16 December and ended the year in a leave and upkeep status.
Vietnam War
On 6 January 1967, Wainwright got underway for Boston and post-shakedown availability. She concluded that repair period and headed back to Charleston on 15 March. Following local operations there, the guided missile destroyer embarked upon her first deployment to the western Pacific on 10 April. She transited the Panama Canal a week later and arrived in San Diego, California, on 23 April. For almost a month, she conducted exercises off the coast of southern California before heading west on 15 May. After brief stops at Pearl Harbor and Guam, Wainwright entered Subic Bay in the Philippines on 3 June.
Three days later, she arrived on station in the Tonkin Gulf and, on 8 June, took over positive identification radar advisory zone (PIRAZ) duties from . In that capacity, Wainwright maintained constant radar and visual surveillance of the gulf and adjoining coasts for the purpose of identifying all aircraft in the zone and vectoring defensive forces to the interception of any possible airborne enemy intruders. Because of the relative immobility necessary to those duties, she also served as a reference point to guide American strike aircraft to their targets ashore. Since her duties afforded her a continual picture of the events occurring in the air over the zone, she also served as a base for search and rescue (SAR) helicopters. During that first line period, one SAR helicopter crashed Wainwrights flight deck area; but the damage proved to be minimal, and the destroyer was able to resume full-scale flight operations the following day. Damage to the superstructure of the helicopter storage compartment consisted of a gash provided by a helicopter blade. The helicopter was ordered to be pushed over the side as a result of the damage to it.
After a one-week upkeep period out of a scheduled two-week period at Sasebo, Japan, Wainwright was called back to PIRAZ duty secondary to a fire aboard in July 1967. Wainwright resumed PIRAZ duty on 12 August. Her 27 days on station ended on 8 September when she cleared the gulf for a five-day visit to Hong Kong. On 15 September, she stood out of the British colony to return to Vietnamese waters. During that third and final tour, she served as a screen commander for two of the attack aircraft carriers operating on "Yankee Station" located in the southern reaches of the Tonkin Gulf as well as antiaircraft warfare command ship for all of Task Force (TF) 77. On 28 September, Wainwright completed her final assignment in the combat zone and departed the Tonkin Gulf. En route home, she visited Subic Bay; Sydney, Australia; Wellington, New Zealand; and Tahiti. The warship retransited the Panama Canal on 12 November and reentered Charleston four days later.
The guided missile destroyer ended 1967 and began 1968 at Charleston. On 19 January 1968, she exited her home port and headed for Newport, Rhode Island, where she served as school ship for the Destroyer School from 21 January to 3 February before returning to Charleston on 5 February. Her operations from her home port, including Operation "Rugby Match" exercises in the West Indies, lasted until she sailed for the western Pacific on 24 June. The warship transited the Panama Canal on 29 June, stopped briefly at Pearl Harbor from 11 to 15 July and at Guam on 21 July, and arrived at Subic Bay on 26 July. Four days later, she embarked upon the first tour of combat duty of her 1968 deployment. She stopped at Da Nang for briefings on 2 August and then relieved on PIRAZ station on 4 August. During the following 41 days, she left her station only once – to evade a typhoon – and returned immediately after the storm passed. On 14 September, she turned PIRAZ duties back over to Sterett and steamed off for a month of port visits which included a brief upkeep period at Subic Bay followed by calls at Hong Kong and Yokosuka. On 13 October, she headed from Japan directly to the PIRAZ station and relieved Sterett once more. The 27 days of her second line period passed even more routinely than those of the first, and she cleared the Tonkin Gulf on 15 November for a four-day upkeep in Sasebo from 19 to 23 November. Back on station on 28 November, Wainwright concluded the year as the Navy's air coordinator in the northern portion of the Tonkin Gulf.
The warship spent the first three days of 1969 winding up her third and final tour of duty as PIRAZ ship and then set a course for the Philippines, the first pause on her way home. After stopping at Subic Bay from 5 to 9 January, she continued her roundabout voyage to Charleston, stopping along the way at Sydney, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Papeete, Tahiti. She passed back through the Panama Canal on 11 February, stopped at St. Thomas for a two-day visit on 15 February, and reached Charleston on 21 February.
Following a month of leave and upkeep, Wainwright underwent a whole series of inspections at Charleston that spring. During the middle of May, she steamed north to Norfolk, Virginia, where she participated in the Presidential Seapower Demonstration conducted in the Virginia Capes operating area. At the conclusion of that event on 19 May, she headed south for the multifaceted combat exercise, "Exotic Dancer." For the first two weeks of June, Wainwright remained in the West Indies and participated in the NATO anti-submarine warfare exercise, "Spark Plug", along with ships of the navies of Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Portugal. That exercise ended on 11 June, and the destroyer proceeded to Newport where she disembarked the Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 2. She returned to Charleston on 16 June and spent all but two days of the next two months in port. On 18 August, Wainwright entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard for her first regular overhaul.
On 16 February 1970, the ship returned to operational status. Training off the Florida coast followed by more of the same off the Virginia Capes occupied her until mid-March. After three days in Charleston, Wainwright got underway for gunnery and missile shoots on the Atlantic Fleet weapons range near Puerto Rico. Refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay followed in April, but it was interrupted by two special assignments. On 26 April, she received orders to intercept three Haitian Coast Guard vessels fleeing that country in the wake of an unsuccessful coup. The ship encountered one near the entrance to Guantanamo Bay; but, observing American port officials boarding the ship peacefully, she continued on her way. Later, Wainwright found the other two ships and escorted them back to Guantanamo Bay for temporary asylum. On 10 May, she put to sea to intercept quite a different force – a Soviet task group. That night, she came upon two of the Russian ships, a guided missile cruiser and a guided missile destroyer. The following day, two submarines, an oiler, and a submarine tender rendezvoused with the first two ships; and all six entered port at Cienfuegos, Cuba, on 14 May. The next day, Wainwright returned to Guantanamo Bay to resume refresher training. Less than a month later, on 12 June, she moored at Charleston for two months of upkeep and training in preparation for her forthcoming deployment to the Far East.
On 25 August, the guided missile destroyer stood out of Charleston, bound for her third and final deployment to the western Pacific in conjunction with the Vietnam War. Steaming via the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor, she arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, on 21 September. For almost two months, she conducted operations in Japanese waters, primarily bilateral ASW exercises in the Sea of Japan with units of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. Periodically, the warship put into Yokosuka and Sasebo for upkeep and liberty.
Wainwright departed from Japan on 14 November and headed via the Taiwan Strait for the Tonkin Gulf. On 20 November, she relieved on PIRAZ station and took up familiar duty as the American air coordinator in the northern part of the gulf. That assignment proved very brief for, on the following day, relieved Wainwright; and the guided missile frigate moved on to new duties as the coordinator ship assigned to the north SAR station. For almost a month, she alternated between north and south SAR stations, taking time briefly in mid-December to participate in Operation "Beacon Tower", a three-day exercise to test the readiness of American warships in the Tonkin Gulf to meet and deal with air and surface attacks. On 16 December, Wainwright left the combat zone, bound for Singapore, where she remained from 19 to 26 December. From there, she set a course for the Philippines and arrived in Subic Bay on 29 December.
The warship completed six days in port at Subic Bay on 4 January 1971 and got underway for Hong Kong. She returned briefly to Subic Bay, however, for repairs to one of her radar antennae but finally reached Hong Kong on 11 January. Following a four-day visit, she stood out of the British colony on her way to the Tonkin Gulf. She served 16 days in the gulf, dividing her time between PIRAZ duties and assignments as the northern SAR ship.