1970 USS Preble DLG 15 Vietnam Era Vintage Zippo - Double Sided Mint

USS Preble served in the Tonkin Gulf in Vietnam. Double sided lighter.

This lighter has great color and character. This destroyer has a great history and was recommissioned in 1970 when this 50 year old lighter was created in Bradford PA. . Double sided, very clean all around, pristine inside. Has a slight smudge on the reverse that you have to hold a certain way to see. For this reason we are not grading this piece Gem, but we are scoring it Mint 96. Complete box with paper.

Great piece for Vietnam, Military, Graphics and Vintage collectors. 

 USS Preble (DLG-15/DDG-46) was a Farragut-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She was the fifth, of now six ships, named to honor Commodore Edward Preble (1761–1807). Preble was laid down by Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine on 16 December 1957. She was launched on 23 May 1959, sponsored by Mrs. Ralph E. Wilson. Preble was commissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard on 9 May 1960, Commander Edward G. Fitz-Patrick in command. She was decommissioned on 15 November 1991 and struck 20 November 1992 to be scrapped.

Rotated regularly to the Western Pacific over the next five years, Preble spent much of her deployed time with the 7th Fleet off the coast of Vietnam. During these tours she served as plane guard for aircraft carriers in the Tonkin Gulf, patrolled on Search and Rescue, and bombarded enemy positions along the coast. On 19 June 1968 Navy Lt.jg. Clyde Everett Lassen and his crew from Helicopter Squadron 7, embarked aboard Preble, flew a hazardous mission deep into North Vietnam to rescue two downed U.S. Navy pilots. Lassen was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Returning from the Western Pacific in July 1968, Preble operated briefly along the California coast. In December she got underway for the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for an extensive overhaul. She was decommissioned on 31 January 1969, recommissioned 23 May 1970, and returned to the Pacific Fleet.