Near the end of 1964, however, the attack cargo ship entered a geographic region that dominated her western Pacific deployments for the remainder of her career — Vietnam. In December of that year, she began hauling supplies and equipment there for use by the South Vietnamese government in its struggle with communist insurgents. Thereafter, she cruised off the coast with Marines embarked as part of a contingency force. That duty lasted until 8 March 1965 when she landed troops near Da Nang. She returned to amphibious operations in mid-April, landing reinforcements for the defense of Da Nang Air Base and Phu Bai Combat Base and again early in May when three battalion landing teams (BLT's) and a mobile construction battalion went ashore near Chu Lai to extend the perimeter and construct Chu Lai Air Base. She departed the Vietnamese coast at the end of May for more routine 7th Fleet duties but returned for one more brief tour of duty in the combat zone before heading home early in September.