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USS ''Kirk'' (FF-1087) was a destroyer escort, originally designated as DE-1087 and reclassified as a frigate (1975) in the United States Navy. Her primary mission of ASW remained unchanged. She was named for Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk. Her contract awarded to Avondale Marine on 25 August 1966. ''Kirk'' was laid down on 4 December 1970, launched on 25 September 1971 and commissioned on 9 September 1972. ==Service history== In April 1975 ''Kirk'' participated in Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam.〔(By Sea, Air and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the war in Southeast Asia Chapter 5: The Final Curtain, 1973–1975 )〕 As part of the U.S. fleet sent to facilitate the evacuation of Americans from South Vietnam, USS ''Kirk'' carried out one of the most significant humanitarian missions in U.S. military history. Under the direction of a civilian, Richard Armitage, ''Kirk'' rescued the South Vietnamese Navy, and along with it, tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees, and led them to the Philippines. From there, most of the refugees ultimately emigrated to the United States.〔(At War's End, U.S. Ship Rescued South Vietnam's Navy )〕 During the evacuation, it became a makeshift landing zone for a stream of helicopters flown by South Vietnamese airmen fleeing for their lives with their families and friends on board. Having only a small helipad, ''Kirk'' had nowhere to store the helicopters so the crew pushed each one overboard into the China Sea. The final refugees it received were literally tossed out of a hovering Boeing CH-47 Chinook that was too large to land on ''Kirk''. Once the passengers were safely aboard, the pilot steered the craft a few hundred yards off ''Kirk''s bow and landed in the water. He successfully emerged and joined his family on board the American destroyer. In 2010, under the direction of VADM Adam Robinson, former Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Navy created a documentary entitled ''The Lucky Few''. It has since been translated into Vietnamese as well. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Kirk (FF-1087)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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