the officer of the watch was mentioned in despatches for courage and calmness under fire. Six days later, Perth and fired on six small supply craft, sinking five. Perth sailed to Subic for emergency maintenance and rebarrelling on 26 October, and returned to Sea Dragon duties on 1 November. Another maintenance period occurred between 7 and 16 November, after which Perth sailed to Singapore for shore leave, returning to operations on 27 November. This gunline deployment lasted until 20 December, with Perth coming under shore battery fire on two occasions, but receiving no hits or damage. After maintenance at Subic, the destroyer returned Sea Dragon operations on 9 January. Problems with the forward gun turret and the starboard propeller saw Perth withdraw to Subic for repairs on 2 February. These were completed by 14 February, with the destroyer returning to the Sea Dragon force that day. The commanding officer of Perth was appointed overall commander of both the northern and southern task units; the northern unit was normally led by the commander of the assigned cruiser, but Newport News was in dock for maintenance. In mid-February, the forward gun mount malfunctioned again, which left the turret operational but unable to rotate. On 1 March, the destroyer withdrew for maintenance, returning to operations ten days later. On 23 March, Perth withdrew to Subic to conclude her tour of duty, and was replaced on 31 March by Hobart. The destroyer was awarded the United States Navy Unit Commendation for her service during the deployment. In addition to the two personnel awards for actions in response to the 18 October hit, Perths commanding officer was Mentioned in Despatches, and 22 personnel received Naval Board commendations. Second deployment On 19 September 1968, Perth departed from Sydney to replace Hobart in the Vietnam warzone. En route, a training exercise with RAAF aircraft revealed that one of the radars and both identification-friend-or-foe units had defects, which were repaired in Subic. Perth relieved her sister ship on 29 September, and after exercising with the Seventh Fleet, deployed to the gunline on 5 October. Four days later, the destroyer sailed north to relieve as leader of the northern Sea Dragon unit, as that destroyer was experiencing faults with her gun turrets and targeting computer. The next day, Perth and were joined by the battleship , with the battleship taking command of the unit and the Australian destroyer was