a member of ARG Alfa. She also visited Guam; Subic Bay and Iloilo, Philippines; Singapore; Hong Kong; Keelung; and Yokosuka. Among the amphibious exercises in which she participated was Operation Fortress Lightning, held in the Philippines, in waters near Santa Cruz, Mindanao Island, from 10 to 23 October. Upon the conclusion of this exercise, the vessel made her way back to the west coast of the United States via Okinawa, Guam, and Hawaii. On 17 November, she pulled into San Diego and spent the rest of the year in upkeep. 1978 The ship was involved in training operations along the California coast in January 1978. On 20 February, she got underway for Bremerton, Washington, to carry Army troops to their home base. The ship arrived at San Diego on 3 March and began preparations for overhaul. She got underway, in tow of , for the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 14 April, and commenced a regular overhaul there the next day. Upon completion of this work, the ship resumed operations on 13 December when she began sea trials. 1979 Anchorage returned to San Diego on 15 January 1979. During the next eight months, she was involved in post-overhaul maintenance and training. She operated along the southern California coast and held refresher training and amphibious refresher training. On 24 September, the ship got underway to take part in Exercise Kernal Potlatch II, a joint American-Canadian fleet exercise. Having concluded a successful amphibious landing on the northern coast of Vancouver Island, she made a port call at Esquimalt, British Columbia. After debarking Marines at Camp Pendleton, Anchorage returned to San Diego on 13 October. She participated in local operations and training exercises through the end of the year in preparation for an upcoming deployment in 1980. 1980 Four days into the new year, Anchorage slipped her moorings and left San Diego bound for the exotic Orient. Along the way, she visited Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and Guam in the Mariana Islands before arriving at Subic Bay in the Philippines on 6 February 1980. Upon arrival, she loaded a refurbished utility landing craft (LCU) for transportation to the Republic of Djibouti, former French Somaliland, located on the northeast coast of Africa near the Horn of Africa. The LCU-dubbed Le Bac de la Paix (tr. the boat of peace)-was a gift from the United States to Djibouti to enhance the