USS Askari (ARL-30) was one of 39 Achelous-class landing craft repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II.

Originally laid down as USS LST-1131 on 8 December 1944 at Seneca, Illinois by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, she was launched on 2 March 1945 and sponsored by Mrs. Patricia Ann Jacobsen.

Except for a brief visit to Kobe late in February 1953, Askari spent the entire deployment at Yokosuka performing repair work in support of the amphibious ships and craft attached to the 7th Fleet.

France's withdrawal from Indochina fragmented the peninsula into Laos; Cambodia; and two Vietnams: a communist state in the north, and a non-communist, authoritarian one in the south.

The new political arrangement prompted a massive migration of people in which the United States Navy was called upon to carry out the seaborne portion of the movement.

Askari departed Sasebo on the latter date to provide support services for the ships engaged in another humanitarian effort, the evacuation of Nationalist Chinese from the Tachen Islands.

Operations in the swampy Mekong Delta called for the use of a large number of river assault craft and their attendant support ships.

Askari spent the remainder of her navy career providing repair and other support services for the river monitors, motorboats, and amphibious craft attached to Allied riverine forces in the Mekong Delta.

The repair ship arrived at Nhà Bè on the Soài Rạp river about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Saigon on 13 June.

The mobility of the riverine forces was greatly enhanced by the fact that their base consisted of ships like Askari that could move with them throughout the delta and be close at hand to provide support services.

On 1 November 1968 the USS Westchester County, one of the ships that comprised the riverine force's mobile base, suffered severe damage and lost a number of crewmen as a result of the explosion of two mines attached to her hull by enemy swimmer-sappers.

While continuing with her responsibilities to the rest of the riverine force, Askan put forth most of the effort required to salvage and to repair the tank landing ship.

At the end of 1968, the Mobile Riverine Force began to focus its attention on the insurgents' logistic routes coming into the delta from Cambodia.

When she returned to Vietnam at the end of October 1969, Askari resumed repair duties, this time at Châu Đốc, south of her previous base of operations.

Late in March 1970, she and the other support ships moved to Đồng Tâm Base Camp and provided repair services at that point until early May.

On 9 May she returned to the upper reaches of the Mekong near the Cambodian border to resume support for efforts to stop the flow of Viet Cong supplies.

Except for a round-trip mission to deliver boat engines to Song Bo De between 31 August and 8 September, Askari performed her support functions at Đồng Tâm until the middle of December.