The ship was able to provide a minimal degree of naval gunfire support through the use of two sets of twin 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns mounted on the 02-level fore and aft.
[citation needed] After a brief, round-trip cruise to Andros Island, Bahamas, the Anchorage left Norfolk on 24 June, bound for the west coast.
She set sail on the 31st for the western Pacific (WestPac) to transport Marine Corps personnel back to the United States as part of Operation Keystone Bluejay, a planned withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
On 19 February, the ship arrived at Danang, Republic of Vietnam; took on board the personnel and equipment of the 7th Motor Battalion; and sailed for the United States.
Late in October, she carried out relief operations in Lagonoy Gulf on the eastern coast of the Philippines for victims of Typhoons Joan and Kate.
There, she loaded construction materials for a communications center on the island in the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia, to be built as a part of Operation Reindeer Station.
Upon arriving at Diego Garcia on 4 April, she unloaded the construction materials and sailed the next day for Subic Bay to obtain minor repairs and replenishment.
Following a visit to Hong Kong from 17 to 22 April, the ship sailed to Danang where she embarked Marine Corps personnel and equipment for return to the United States as part of Operation Keystone Robin.
[1] Anchorage arrived in her home port on 11 May and, on 28 June, resumed operations as a training ship for landing exercises off Seal Beach, California.
During the last few weeks of 1971, the ship visited Sasebo, Japan, and Hong Kong for liberty calls and also carried Marines and equipment from Okinawa to Subic Bay.
Late in January, she carried out wet-well operations at Danang, Qui Nhon, and Vung Tau and, in mid-February, traveled to Singapore for a visit before returning to Subic Bay.
Leaving Subic Bay on 28 March 1974, she made stops at Guam and Pearl Harbor before arriving back in San Diego on 18 April and entering a standdown period which lasted through 29 July.
During her cruise, embarked scientists surveyed 10 possible landing sites and the vessel visited in Seattle, Washington; Nanaimo, British Columbia; and Sitka and Anchorage, Alaska, before reaching San Diego again on 5 September.
Anchorage began a restricted availability at Long Beach, California, on 17 October and, after the work was completed on 16 December, she returned to home port for the holidays.
Following the ship's rescue, Anchorage resumed her original schedule which included upkeep in Sasebo, Japan; a visit to Keelung, Taiwan; and a port call to Inchon, Republic of Korea.
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.
Having concluded a successful amphibious landing on the northern coast of Vancouver Island, she made a port call at Esquimalt, British Columbia.
[1] During the three months that remained of her 1980 deployment, Anchorage carried out operations in surroundings more familiar to 7th Fleet ships than the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean.
[1] After the usual month of relative inactivity following an overseas deployment, Anchorage began west coast operations early in August with a courtesy visit to Seattle, Washington, for the city's annual sea fair.
She stopped at Pearl Harbor at the beginning of July and remained in the Hawaiian Islands for the first three weeks of the month completing an oft-delayed propulsion plant certification.
Anchorage entered her first western Pacific port at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 3 August and embarked Marine Corps units for transportation to Yokosuka, Japan.
After a brief period underway in the southern California operating area Anchorage began preparations at the end of January for regular overhaul at San Diego.
Over the ensuing seven months, the ship received general repairs and upgrading throughout as well as work on her propulsion plant, modernization of her communications spaces, and an enhancement of her defense capability against antiship missiles.
She spent the rest of October at Yokosuka, then got underway for Okinawa on 1 November to begin conveying Marine Corps units between their bases and the sites of training exercises.
The dock landing ship interrupted her long voyage briefly at Sasebo, Japan, on 16 April to pick up mail and then arrived at Pohang, Korea, on the 17th.
Unfortunately, the USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3) received extensive damage from the storm which led to an extended stay in the naval shipyards at Subic Bay.
Other ports of call during the deployment included Okinawa, Japan; Pohang and Pusan, Korea; Pattaya Beach, Thailand; Hobart, Tasmania and Pearl Harbor, HI.
After the Crossing the Line Ceremony at the Equator, Belleau Wood lost power as both engines and one of two generators stopped, causing her to drift for 5 days at sea and have to be towed by the Anchorage.
She was scheduled to replace the former Comstock, now Chung Cheng, however the transfer never took place and Anchorage remained at the Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility at Pearl Harbor.
After nearly 6 hours of being pounded by anti-ship cruise missiles and air dropped bombs, Anchorage would not sink and the Bremerton, was called in to finish the job.