USS Colleton

USS Colleton (APB-36), was a Benewah-class barracks ship. Colleton's keel was laid on 9 June 1945, launched on 30 July 1945 and delivered on 27 September 1946. She was berthed at Boston, Massachusetts in the custody of the United States Maritime Commission. After extensive conversion beginning in early-mid 1966, which included a helicopter landing pad, she was commissioned 28 January 1967 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Colleton arrived in Vung Tau, Vietnam on 2 May 1967 for duties in the Mekong Delta under Commander River Assault Flotilla One (also known as Task Force 117 (TF117)). Elements of River Assault Squadron Eleven, and the US Army's 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division embarked on 2 June 1967. During the remainder of the year, operations began taking the Mobile Riverine Force (MRF) further west in the Mekong Delta towards Cambodia, creating longer and delayed aeromedical evacuation support for the assault craft and embarked US Army units of the MRF. It was determined that the MRF needed a larger medical treatment and patient holding capacity and as a result, Colleton was refitted at U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, Philippines, in December 1967 and January 1968. The refit expanded the sick bay facilities from one level to two levels and installed a rampway system connecting the levels. (Levels are "decks" above the main deck) The O-3 level was th

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