USS Gridley (DLG-21) the "Spruance"-class destroyer to escort reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz during Operation Earnest Will. While homeward bound, transiting the South China Sea, "Gridley" rescued Vietnamese refugees sighted in a small boat off of the coast of Vietnam. A Vietnamese-speaking crewman aboard "Gridley" was able to translate for those rescued, facilitating the process. "Gridley" returned to San Diego in June 1989. On 17 October of that year, the ship's visit to Naval Station, Treasure Island, California, was interrupted by the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay area. "Gridley"s crew provided assistance to victims
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake wave-like manner over a distance of several feet. When electrical power to the stadium was lost, someone drove a police car onto the field, where an officer used the car's public address system to advise that the game had been postponed. After the shaking subsided, many of the players on both teams immediately searched for, and gathered, family and friends from the stands before evacuating the facility. The October 18, 1989 edition of NBC's "Today" that covered the earthquake ran until noon Eastern Time. Bryant Gumbel, Jane Pauley and Deborah Norville anchored from Chicago (where they had planned to originally