During the latter half of February 1966, the ship prepared for another tour of duty in the western Pacific. Winston departed San Diego on 1 March 1966 for the first Far Eastern deployment in which she would conduct major operations in Vietnamese waters. She stopped at Pearl Harbor overnight on 10 and 11 March and arrived at Okinawa on the 26th. There, she unloaded one cargo and took on another �?? mostly lumber for construction activities at Chu Lai, South Vietnam. She arrived at Chu Lai on the 5th and spent the next four days unloading her cargo. On the 10th, she moved to Da Nang where she helped USS Skagit (AKA-105) unload her cargo, and she herself loaded elements of the 4th Marines. The following day, she departed Da Nang for the Colo area near Huế, arriving there on the 12th. Between 13 and 15 April, her boats ferried ammunition and supplies up the Huế River, both banks of which were in enemy hands.
At the completion of that dangerous mission, she reembarked all boats and crewmen and got underway for Hong Kong. Following a week of liberty, she returned to sea, set a course for Japan on 23 April, and arrived at Sasebo on the 27th. She spent three weeks in upkeep there before sailing on 16 May for Okinawa. She held amphibious training exercises in the Okinawa area on 17 and 18 May and, from 19 to 23 May, embarked Regimental Landing Team 5 and its equipment for transportation to Chu Lai. She set out for Vietnam on the 23rd and arrived at Chu Lai on the 27th. She unloaded cargo; disembarked passengers; and, after a brief stop at Da Nang on 2 June, got underway for Taiwan.
She arrived in Keelung on 4 June and remained there until the 7th when she returned to sea bound for Subic Bay in the Philippines. En route, however, she was rerouted to Yokosuka, Japan, where she arrived on 11 June. At the end of almost a month of upkeep at Yokosuka and several days of operations near Okinawa, Winston suffered damage to one of her boilers. That casualty forced her into Subic Bay for repairs, and she did not return to sea until 22 July.
On 26 July, after a rough transit which had taken her through the developing Typhoon "Ora", the cargo ship returned to Vietnam at Cam Ranh Bay. The next day, she embarked men and equipment of the Army's 572rd Light Equipment Company for transportation north to Tuy Hòa. She anchored there the same day and began unloading. That operation lasted two days and proved difficult and hazardous due to the soft sand beach, large numbers of fishing craft and equipment crowding the area, and large amounts of debris. On the 29th, she headed north from Tuy Hòa to evacuate a South Vietnamese unit from Qui Nhơn. That reverse amphibious operation saved the unit the heavy casualties it would have sustained fighting its way south along routes held by strong insurgent forces. Winston departed Qui Nhơn on 31 July and delivered the South Vietnamese troops to Tuy Hòa that same day. Over the next three days and nights, she completed another difficult unloading operation complicated by the proximity of the enemy and the possibility of hostile fishing craft. She departed the Vietnamese coast on 3 August and, after a stop at Okinawa, arrived at Yokosuka on the 11th. A week later, she headed home, stopped at Pearl Harbor from 27 to 29 August, arrived back in San Diego on 5 September, and resumed local operations along the southern California coast.
On 11 January 1967, Winston entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and began a three-month overhaul. She completed repairs on 27 April and spent the month of May engaged in refresher training. In June, she conducted amphibious exercises, and July brought preparations for her return to the western Pacific. The ship departed San Diego on 21 July and arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 29th. During the first week in August, she participated in another series of amphibious exercises conducted off Molokai. Two days after completing that training, she exited Pearl Harbor to resume her voyage west.
She arrived in Da Nang on 2 September and, after three days in port, returned to sea to join Amphibious Ready Group Alpha. During her six-week tour of duty with that mobile, self-contained amphibious unit, Winston participated in two combat operations. On 9 September, she helped backload marines of Special Landing Force (SLF) Alpha at Da Nang. On 16 September, she found herself off the Vietnamese coast near H�?i An. During Operation "Ballistic Charge", the Special Landing Force went ashore by both helicopters and surface assault craft. Winston's boats participated in the lift and in the backload operation a week later. Almost a month later, she again participated in an amphibious landing, Operation "Bastion Hill", near Quảng Tr�? City. That operation ended on 20 October, and Winston served with ARG Alpha just eight more days before heading for Hong Kong and a liberty visit. From Hong Kong, she proceeded to Japan, arriving in Yokosuka on 17 November. After a brief upkeep, she began her homeward voyage on the 21st and entered San Diego on 10 December.
During the early months of 1968, Winston made preparations for another deployment to the western Pacific. She spent most of March in the shipyard at Treasure Island undergoing repairs. Late in April, she took part in Operation "Beagle Leash", an amphibious exercise which simulated an attack on the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton. Throughout the summer, the ship participated in various single-and multi-ship training exercises honing her amphibious landing skills in preparation for another combat cruise off the coast of Vietnam.
On 31 October, Winston stood out of San Diego and set course, via Pearl Harbor, for the Far East. She arrived at Okinawa on 24 November but departed the following day, bound for Vietnam. She arrived in Da Nang on 29 November, unloaded 300 tons of cargo, and set sail for Subic Bay that same day. The attack cargo ship entered Subic Bay on 2 December and reported for duty with ARG Alpha. On the 9th, she put to sea to return to the coast of Vietnam. She arrived at Da Nang on the 11th and, for about a month, engaged in routine steaming with ARG Alpha.
On 1 January 1969, the ship was redesignated (LKA-94).
On 5 January, her troops went ashore in the I Corps combat zone for operations against Viet Cong forces in Operation "Valiant Hunt". That action continued until 12 January but proved to be only a preliminary to Operation Bold Mariner which she joined on the 13th. "Bold Mariner" was purported to be the largest amphibious operation of the Vietnam War to that date, and Winston participated in it until 25 January. After a brief stop at Da Nang on the 26th to unload some cargo, the ship got underway for a liberty call at Singapore which lasted from 1 to 10 February. She arrived back at Da Nang four days later. The ship operated off the coast of Vietnam, periodically departing the area for port calls at various places, until May 1969. After a stop at Yokosuka, Japan, near the end of the month, she headed back to the United States. Winston arrived back in San Diego on 12 June.
Decommissioning[edit]
There, she began preparations for inactivation. Winston was placed out of commission sometime in November 1969 and, on 17 February 1970, she was transferred to the temporary custody of the Maritime Administration for lay up with the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California Winston remained berthed at Suisun Bay until 1 September 1976 at which time her name was struck from the Navy List, and her transfer to the Maritime Administration was made permanent.
Winston was sold for scrap on 15 November 1979 to Apolina Limited, Hong Kong and removed from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet on 18 December 1979. Scrapping was performed by Keun Hwa Iron, Steel Works, and Enterprises Ltd of Taiwan, completed as of 23 April 1980.
