Editing USS Point Defiance (section)

===1955&ndash;1962===
Following shakedown in the [[Gulf of Mexico]], the new dock landing ship arrived [[Long Beach, California]], in July 1955 and joined Amphibious Squadron 7, Amphibious Force, [[United States Pacific Fleet|Pacific Fleet]].

After two deployments to the western Pacific, ''Point Defiance'' became one of the first rocket-launching surface ships to support the 1958 [[International Geophysical Year]] [[Solar eclipse of April 19, 1958|Solar Eclipse]] Expedition to the South Pacific. Launchers on deck fired eight [[Nike-Asp]] [[sounding rocket]]s to collect scientific data during the eclipse.

In May 1959 ''Point Defiance'' participated in the large scale and highly successful amphibious "Operation Twin Peaks" off [[Oceanside, California]] In February 1960 ''Point Defiance'' made her third cruise to the western Pacific, participating in "Operation Blue Star", a combined amphibious operation with [[Republic of China|Chinese Nationalist]] Forces. In June 1960 she participated in "Operation Sea Hawk", a combined amphibious landing with [[Republic of Korea]] forces and returned to Long Beach in July.

She operated off the West Coast during most of 1961, and made a brief cruise to [[Pearl Harbor]] and [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]]. ''Point Defiance'' departed Long Beach for the western Pacific in January 1962. In May she landed [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]] at [[Bangkok]], [[Thailand]]. In October she transited the [[Panama Canal]] and steamed to the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]] ready to act if needed during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis|Cuban Quarantine]].