A welcome diversion from the routine of war came late in December, when ROCHESTER was ordered south to Vietnam. She was sent there as a show of support for the beleaguered French, whose attempts to put down the Vietminh were not going well.

On the 2nd of January, ROCHESTER navigated up the Saigon River through a region increasingly influenced by the Vietminh.  Upon reaching the city, however, she arrived at a place still under tenuous control of the French-backed local government.

ROCHESTER was the largest warship ever to have steamed that far up the Saigon River. Because the River was too narrow for her to make a normal turn, and as there were no tugs to offer assistance, ROCHESTER ran her bow into the muddy river bank upstream from the city and pivoted around under her own power. She then came alongside Saigon’s wharf headed downstream. From here the liberty party disembarked into a cosmopolitan setting.

Sailors on liberty in Saigon entered a city of sharp contrasts.

The architecture of the stately buildings along downtown streets reflected the regions long history as a French colony, but the city’s outskirts were typical of southeast Asia.

After a few days, ROCHESTER returned down the river and headed back north.

On 8 January, ROCHESTER called at Manila, in the Philippine Islands. She was there just a few days—enough time for the crew to visit some of the more familiar locations, such as ruins of the old Spanish Fort (right). Then it was time to return to more serious matters farther north.

Upon leaving Manila, ROCHESTER passed between World-War II landmarks Corregidor (below, left) and the Bataan Peninsula.

Up / WestPac pg 2 / WestPac pg3 / WestPac pg 4 / WestPac pg 5