in an effort calculated to discourage enemy frogmen. When the task was completed, the ship got underway for the Philippines. Reaching Subic Bay after an uneventful passage, the ship unloaded the explosives and soon received orders to transport a much-needed suction dredge up the Saigon River to Nhà Bè Base, through territory largely controlled by the VC. At Tan My, Tortuga embarked the dredge and a warping tug and got underway. During the transit of the Saigon River, the landing ship stood to general quarters, keeping a sharp eye for enemy attempts to impede the progress of the ship. The enemy failed to appear, however, and Tortuga, her dredge, and her tug arrived at Nhà Bè soon thereafter. From 5 May to 20 May, Tortuga participated in Operation Daring Rebel, an operation mounted to seek out and destroy VC rest camps on Barrier Island, south of Da Nang. Joining , and , Tortuga closed the beachhead, while stood offshore to provide initial bombardment. When White River launched a heavy rocket barrage shoreward, the operation got underway. Landing craft splashed ashore while troop-carrying helicopters quickly airlifted troops ashore in the vertical-envelopment phase of the operation. For the next two weeks, Tortuga served as primary control ship for the operation which located and destroyed caches of food and ammunition and VC rest camps. The landing ship again served as primary control ship (PCS) in Da Nang harbor during Operation Gallant Leader, a follow-up to Operation Daring Rebel. Relieved by Duluth on 23 May, Tortuga set sail soon thereafter for Buckner Bay and simulated combat landings during exercises with Assault Craft Unit 1 in late June. In July, Tortuga transported the first increment of Marines and their equipment for Operation Keystone Eagle, from Cửa Việt Base, South Vietnam, to White Beach, Okinawa, before returning up the Saigon River to Nha Be with a load of palletized cargo. Subsequently supporting Operation Sea Float, delivering two pontoons and 32 pallets of ammunition from Nhà Bè to Tân Mỹ Base, Tortuga onloaded men and equipment from "Charlie" Battery, 1st Light Antiaircraft Missile Battalion (LAAM), 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, at Da Nang harbor for transport to the west coast of the United States. In this last operation, the second increment of Operation Keystone Eagle, Tortuga headed "stateside" for the last time, and arrived at Seal Beach, California, on 12 September 1969, unloading the 58 Hawk missiles of