An aerial view of the De Long pier at Vung Tau with the RAN bulk carrier HMAS Jeparit alongside. ...

An aerial view of the De Long pier at Vung Tau with the RAN bulk carrier HMAS Jeparit alongside. MV Jeparit was originally an Australian National Line vessel which completed five voyages to South Vietnam between June 1966 and February 1967. The ship had an all civilian crew and sailed as a merchant vessel on charter to the then Department of Shipping and Transport (DST), carrying supplies for the Australian forces engaged in the Vietnam War. After the fifth voyage some seamen refused to man the vessel. To overcome this difficulty, crew members who were prepared to continue to serve on the Jeparit were supplemented by a Royal Australian Navy detachment. Following Jeparit's twenty-sixth round voyage to Vietnam (her twenty-first with the Royal Australian Navy detachment embarked), further industrial trouble developed and it was decided to commission Jeparit as an HMA Ship. Accordingly, the vessel was commissioned as HMAS Jeparit on 11 December 1969. Jeparit made a further seventeen voyages under the White Ensign, although still with a mixed RAN and Merchant Navy crew. Jeparit's last round voyage to Vietnam ended when she returned to Sydney on 11 March 1972.