Operation Fluid Drive was a non-combatant evacuation operation led by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

to evacuate

American citizens Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

and other

foreign national A foreign national is any person (including an organization) who is not a national of a specific country. ("The term 'person' means an individual or an organization.") For example, in the United States and in its territories, a foreign national ...

s from

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, during the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

. On 20 June 1976, USS ''Spiegel Grove'' transported 110 Americans and 157 nationals of other countries from Lebanon to

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. On 27 July, 300 additional persons, including 155 Americans, were evacuated to Piraeus. The cruiser USS ''Little Rock'' was present off the Lebanese coast during both evacuations.

First evacuation

United States President Gerald Ford ordered commencement of the operation on 20 June 1976 at 1:23 a.m. EDT. Fighting on land routes to

Damascus, Syria )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, disrupted the original plan of a road convoy evacuation. At 10:37 a.m. Beirut time, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

LCU 1654 landing craft opened its bow ramp at Bain Militaire to allow 276 evacuees to board.The Naval History & Heritage Command, The History Program of The Department of the Navy, 805 Kidder Breese St SE Washington D.C., DC, US 20374 (http://www.history.navy.mil/) as shown in photo and caption at https://www.facebook.com/USNHistory/photos/a.10150752999428344/10150752999708344, posted 7 May 2012, accessed 10 Aug 2020 U.S. diplomats in Lebanon had finished the truce arrangements needed for the evacuation only hours beforehand. Organisation on the ground within Beirut leant on the knowledge and connections of British Charge d'Affaires, Geoffrey Hancock, who used his good relations with parties involved in the conflict in efforts to assure security. The evacuees were unarmed, and were escorted by numerous Palestinian guerrillas and leftist Lebanese army soldiers. One family refused to continue with the evacuation when told, incorrectly, that their dog was not allowed. After a 25-minute trip, the landing craft reached USS ''Spiegel Grove'', which remained three miles offshore. The

United States Sixth Fleet The Sixth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy operating as part of United States Naval Forces Europe. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixth Fleet in ...

flagship, USS ''Little Rock'', pulled alongside USS ''Spiegel Grove'' to greet the refugees on board. The United States convoy consisted of five ships in total. One of the escort ships was the USS ''Connole'' (FF 1056), and three

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

warships, including ''Kerch'', shadowed the fleet. USS ''Spiegel Grove'' then sailed to Piraeus, Greece, arriving on 22 June 1976.

Second evacuation

On 26 July 1976, the Sixth Fleet prepared to evacuate an additional 500 Americans and others from Lebanon. Dockside security was again provided by the Palestine Liberation Organization. Although 500 people were signed up to leave the country, only 155 Americans and 145 nationals of other countries were evacuated.

References

{{commonscat Presidency of Gerald Ford Military operations of the Lebanese Civil War

Fluid Drive Fluid Drive is the trademarked name that Chrysler Corporation assigned to a transmission driveline combination which replaced the flywheel with a hydraulic coupling and performed the same function as a modern torque converter, only without torq ...

20th-century military history of the United States 1976 in Lebanon