Figure 1: A port view of the frigate USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) at Honolulu, Hawaii, 1986. Courtesy PH2 Lancaster. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) underway, date and place unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: Aerial surveillance photograph showing two Cambodian Communist Khmer Rouge gunboats seizing the American containership SS Mayaguez on 12 May 1975. US Air Force Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: A large US Air Force H-53 helicopter carrying US Marines attempts to land on the narrow deck of the USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074), 15 May 1975. Courtesy of U.S. Air Force. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) coming alongside SS Mayaguez to retake the ship from Khmer Rouge pirates on 15 May 1975. Courtesy of U.S. Air Force. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: US Marines going over the side of the USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) during the retaking of SS Mayaguez on 15 May 1975. Courtesy of Bill McKinley. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: US Marine searching the decks of the Mayaguez during the retaking of the ship on 15 May 1975. Courtesy of U.S. Navy. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: Tony Mullins, Dennis Smyres, and John Hamrin on the starboard side of USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) guarding against a possible communist gunboat attack after the SS Mayaguez is secured. Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, taken by YN3 Michael Chan. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) towing SS Mayaguez to safety after recapturing the container ship on 15 May 1975. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) tows SS Mayaguez to safety after recapturing the container ship on 15 May 1975. Courtesy of U.S. Navy. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: An aerial view of the US Naval Ship Repair Facility at Subic Bay, the Philippines, in June 1982. Berthed at the shipyard are the Knox-class frigates USS Roark (FF-1053) and USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074). Moored alongside them is the guided missile frigate USS Brooke (FFG-1). Courtesy PH1 David MacLean. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 12: A starboard view of the frigate USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) underway, November 1991. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 13: An overhead view of the frigate USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) underway, November 1991. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 14: Another overhead view of the frigate USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) underway, November 1991. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 15: USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) was used as a target ship on 10 July 2002 as part of the RIMPAC 2002 naval exercises. Courtesy Peter Skoutas. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 16: USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) being hit as a target ship on 10 July 2002 as part of the RIMPAC 2002 naval exercises. Courtesy Peter Skoutas. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 17: USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) showing numerous hits and much damage while being used as a target ship on 10 July 2002 as part of the RIMPAC 2002 naval exercises. Courtesy Peter Skoutas. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 18: USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) sinking after being used as a target ship on 10 July 2002 as part of the RIMPAC 2002 naval exercises. In the foreground is the frigate USS Crommelin (FFG-37). Courtesy Peter Skoutas. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after the Australian Prime Minister Harold E. Holt (who was a strong supporter of President Lyndon Johnson and greatly expanded Australia’s involvement in Vietnam), the 4,065-ton USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) was a Knox-class frigate and the first American warship named after a foreign head of state. She was built at Todd Shipyards at San Pedro, California, and was commissioned on 26 March 1971. Holt was approximately 438 feet long and 46 feet wide, had a top speed of 27 knots, and had a crew of 13 officers and 211 enlisted men. Holt was heavily armed with one 5-inch/54 caliber Mk. 42 gun, one ASROC Mk. 16 missile launcher, four Mk. 46 torpedoes from four single-tube launchers, one Mk. 25 BPDMS launcher for Sea Sparrow missiles, and a wide array of electronic and sonar equipment. The ship also carried one SH-2 Seasprite (LAMPS 1) helicopter.
After a rather long shakedown period, Holt was deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam in the spring of 1972. While there, she was used as an escort and provided gunfire support for US troops on shore. Holt came under fire from shore batteries on several occasions and sustained two mine hits, although she was not seriously damaged. She steamed back to Long Beach, California, in late November 1972 and later was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation for her service off the coast of Vietnam.
Saigon, along with the rest of South Vietnam, fell to the communist North Vietnamese on 30 April 1975 and Holt was in the area patrolling the waters off this troubled country. But on 12 May, less than two weeks after the fall of Saigon, communist Cambodian Khmer Rouge naval forces, using captured former US Navy “Swift Boats,” seized the American container ship SS Mayaguez that was steaming in international waters near Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge claimed that the ship had entered their territorial waters, although the Mayaguez clearly had not. US Navy patrol aircraft observed that the ship was moved to Koh Tang Island, located roughly 50 miles off the southern coast of Cambodia.
America’s response was quick and decisive. President Gerald Ford called the taking of the Mayaguez an act of piracy and ordered US Navy and Marine Corps units into the area to recapture the container ship and its 40-man crew. The aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea was sent steaming towards the Mayaguez along with several smaller ships, one of them being Harold E. Holt. The frigate was given the task of retaking the container ship by force and rescuing the crew. A group of 57 Marines was flown by helicopter out from Thailand and landed on board Holt’s narrow flight deck. Holt was ordered to steam directly adjacent to the Mayaguez and the Marines were to board the container ship and rescue the crew. Other Marine Corps and Air Force units, along with the destroyer USS Henry B. Wilson, were to simultaneously mount an assault on Koh Tang Island in case the Khmer Rouge was holding the crew of the Mayaguez there.
At 0600 on 15 May, as Holt approached the Mayaguez, USAF A-7 attack jets bombarded the Mayaguez with tear gas munitions. This was supposed to incapacitate both the Khmer Rouge pirates and the hostages on board the Mayaguez. As soon as Holt came alongside the container ship, the Marines, in an action normally seen in early Nineteenth Century naval warfare, jumped over Holt’s railing and onto the deck of the Mayaguez. The Marines, equipped with gas masks, began searching the container ship for the crew and their captors. However, after a thorough search of the container ship, nobody was found. The Navy later intercepted a small fishing boat that was floating nearby and it had the entire crew of the Mayaguez on it. The crew, all of them alive and unharmed, was sent to the Holt. The sailors and the Marines from Holt then rigged a tow line between the container ship and the frigate and the Mayaguez, along with its crew, were removed from the area and brought to safety. Unfortunately, the news wasn’t as good on nearby Koh Tang Island. The Marine assault on the island went badly and several transport helicopters were shot down. Approximately 21 US Marines and airmen were killed and 41 wounded in the battle on the island before the surviving members of the assault force could be evacuated by helicopter later in the day. Numerous members of the Khmer Rouge were killed by air strikes on the island and by the Marines, although the final number of communist casualties is not known.
After the famous “Mayaguez Incident,” Holt returned to her normal fleet duties and took part in numerous naval exercises and assignments all over the world. The ship was decommissioned on 2 July 1992, after 21 years of service. On 10 July 2002, USS Harold E. Holt was sunk as a target ship as part of the RIMPAC training exercises.
Fighting pirates is nothing new for the United States Navy. The US Navy has a long and proud tradition of rescuing American citizens from these sea-based terrorists and President Ford’s quick and decisive action certainly discouraged similar acts of piracy from taking place in that part of the world. After the rescue of the Mayaguez, communist pirates in Southeast Asia never seized another American merchant ship. However, as we have seen from recent events on board the SS Maersk Alabama, the scourge of piracy is still alive and well today in other parts of the world.
