USS Cleveland (LPD-7)  USS "Cleveland" (LPD-7), an "Austin"-class amphibious transport dock, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city in Ohio. Her keel was laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on 7 May 1966, and was commissioned on 21 April 1967 at Norfolk, Virginia. At the time of decommissioning, she was the third-oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy, behind ("Old Ironsides") and . After commissioning, "Cleveland" changed homeport to San Diego, California, to become a member of the Pacific Fleet's Amphibious Force. "Cleveland" divided her time between operations in the Eastern Pacific and extended deployments to the Western Pacific. "Cleveland" was normally assigned as part of an Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) and, with her embarked Marines and other forces, performed a wide variety of missions. "Cleveland" first saw action during the Tet Offensive in 1968. In 1972 Cleveland served close in shore in the DMZ area as a platform for 7 Marine Cobrajet helos performing operations on NVN troop and supply lines. In January 1973 Cleveland was in a Task Force on it's way to make a landing with Marines in North Vietnam when the Paris peace treaty was signed.After the Vietnam War cease-fire in January 1973, "Cleveland" joined Task Force 78 in the mine-clearing effort of Haiphong Harbor and Operation End Sweep. "Cleveland" then began a series of seven Western Pacific deployments between 1974 and 1985. In 1978, portions of the film "Inchon" was filmed during a practice amphibious assault off the coast of Korea. This is referenced in the ship's logs of 1978. Assigned duties as Third Fleet flagship from January through November 1988, "Cleveland" once again demonstrated the flexibility and professionalism that became her hallmark. "Cleveland" then briefly shifted focus to environmental protection when she deployed to Prince William Sound, Alaska, in support of oil spill cleanup efforts associated with the "Exxon Valdez" disaster. The ship's next two deployments, in 1990 and 1991, were in support of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. In October 1992 and in March 1993, "Cleveland" deployed on short notice to Central America in support of law enforcement operations, or LEO OPS where she was the first LPD to embark an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter.