"Now hear this!" announced Paul Lennon, a medical student. "The U.S.S. Bennington has been captured by Sydney University pirates!" Alarms for general quarters, atomic and chemical attacks were sounded, rousing the crew from their bunks. Marines escorted the students off the ship. No charges were filed. The Bennington was dispatched to Eureka, in Humboldt County, California, during the Christmas flood of 1964 to provide disaster relief from severe flooding with water levels that exceeded thirty feet. The Bennington remained offshore in heavy seas and the twenty Marine helicopters she carried were invaluable in providing assistance and supplies to the stricken residents. She was redesignated as an ASW support carrier CVS-20 on 30 June 1959, and was on hand for the 1960 Laotian coups . She also had three tours of duty – between 1965 and 1968 – in the Vietnam War. As an ASW carrier, her air wing consisted of two squadrons of S-2F Trackers, a squadron of Sikorsky SH-34s ASW helicopters which were replaced in 1964 by SH-3A Sea Kings in that role. Airborne early warning was first provided by EA-1Es modified for the AEW role, these were upgraded in 1965 to the E-1 Tracer which is built on the same frame as the S-2 Tracker. In 1964–1965, a detachment of A-4B Skyhawks were also embarked. On 18 May 1966, while cruising off of San Diego, California, "Bennington" hosted the experimental LTV XC-142A as it executed 44 short takeoffs and landings and six vertical takeoffs and landings, the ship steaming at various speeds to generate different velocities of wind-over-the-deck. She was the prime recovery vessel for the unmanned Apollo 4 mission and on 9 November 1967 recovered the spacecraft which had splashed down from the ship. "Bennington" was decommissioned on 15 January 1970, stricken on 20 September 1989, and sold for scrap on 12 January 1994, being subsequently towed across the Pacific for scrapping in India.