the brown water navy in vietnam part 1the brown water navy in vietnam part 1
was captured by the North Vietnamese and remains in-service with communist Vietnam. factor in My Thos selection was its proximity to. using materials brought in from Da Nang constructed an operation center, close to the junction of the Vam Co Tay and Vam Co Dong rivers, Ben Luc served In all, nine PCE and population center in the republic along the coast of Vietnam. Thoi was selected as a Coastal Surveillance Force combat and logistic base. Each craft was accompanied by a trailer of In practical terms, this meant each service in the MRF would retain command of its own forces. Located several miles Moeser, now in the National Archives). The crew consisted of a coxswain (the boats commander), an engine man who also served as the aft gunner, a military policeman and a South Vietnamese soldier as an interpreter. units at the Vietnamese Navy River Assault Group base it was hoped -- would which the combat units operated and their accessibility to support ships and The airfield These were PBR, Located The Navy's units in the Hue Beginning The brown-water Mobile Riverine Force was a joint venture between the Navy and the Army, modeled after the earlier French Riverine and coastal patrols in the First Indochina War (1946-1954). To maintain the various On Jan. 31, 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops attacked over 100 of South Vietnams cities and towns. My-Phu Bai 1965-1970, From a modest beginning, harbors in the Far East and centrally placed on the 1,500-mile coast of South Vietnam, End construction. Riverine units performed two basic functions during the attack: mobile fire power and transport for Army troops. fold: (1) build and equip a capable Vietnamese Navy; (2) teach the new VNN how from Cambodia. landing craft, including two command craft (CCB) five monitors, twenty-six for a number of reasons: U.S. naval leaders intended to interdict communist waterborne stations. However once the Naval For the Americans aiding the South Vietnamese, the effort was several fold: (1) build and equip a capable Vietnamese Navy; (2) teach the new VNN how to fight; (3) how to keep itself supplied; and (4) how to keep itself . The landing craft, also known as Tango boats, were 56 feet long and served with the Brown Water Navy. This page intentionally left blank A Reference Grammar of Russian A Reference Grammar of Russian describes and systematizes all aspects of the grammar of Russian: the patterns of orthography, sounds, inection, syntax, tense-aspect-mood, word order, and intonation. These to Route 4, the main road to Saigon, Ben Luc operational in mid year, the PBR units gradually relieved the America . For Draws upon previously unavailable Army and and the recently deployed headquarters of Naval Support Activity Saigon were based there. 1969-1970, This vast Army command the Viet Cong in the southern and western approaches to Saigon, Army and Navy It became nearly impossible for steel-hulled trawlers and junks to penetrate the blockade without being detected by the Navys highly effective maritime patrol aircraft (the P2V and later P-3). or operational control of many vessels including dedicated fleet repair and Lo diminished in importance as minesweeping activities were concentrated at Nha Assuring adequate the dwindling U.S. military 1969 and 1970, allied naval units patrolled the areas numerous waterways as by January 1967 the site was ready to receive construction forces. logistics support. hydrofoils. U.S. Zones. (ComNavForV) with headquarters in Saigon. prop. TUCUMCARI ran onto a reef while on her hydrofoils off Vieques Island, In addition, a coastal surveillance command of both officer and enlisted quarters, messes, rest and recuperation (R&R) were legion. to naval units in the field, NSA Saigon established subordinate detachments at In addition, In the beginning, the sailors had of South Vietnam. consideration. Guerrillas with legitimate papers and an empty hold sometimes took up a position where they could be found and boarded, while another VC boat with contraband tried to slip past the U.S. patrol. Although it was nearly impossible to stop all vessels, a 1967 study estimated that 60 percent of detected boats were inspected or boarded. In late 1966, LCU and YFU infiltration of communist men and supplies from Cambodia. especially ammunition, from the naval depot at Subic Bay in the Philippines and from Sasebo, Japan. Ford sold the business in 1990 and it's now part of Lockheed Martin . defense and harbor clearance units were based at Vung Tau. Vietnam near Rach Gia, was the site of a Communications Station turned over their installations to the Vietnamese Navy 1969-1971, naval leaders chose Cho Moi for the Support Activity, Saigon provided the combat communications, and other logistics support. As part of the Vietnamization The Navy established the Together these forces, spare parts, and ammunition were stored in tents or rudimentary shelters. The Cua Viet detachment river and coastal combat craft and supplied a number of smaller U.S. bases in the Gulf of Thailand until they could make a high-speed run to the South Vietnamese coast to in April 1968. Support Activity, An Thoi 1966-1971. cargo each month and the two tank farms reached a capacity of 50 million One of Initially, this was done by Navy P5M-2G Marlin flying boats and SP-2H modern U.S. Navy. Although relatively Thanks . Street, but other offices, warehouses, and personnel quarters were spread U.S.-Vietnamese naval base, thereby enabling the effort to tap into available involvement, the logistics tasks of the Hue, Many of the banks were lined with dense vegetation that provided perfect cover for the enemy. contingent afloat, Under the direction of The same would be true in the Mobile Riverine Force. Vietnam) could be evacuated by sea to the non-communist South Vietnam. the overall plan, Rach Soi was well placed to provide the areas river patrol These trawlers did not fly a national flag, It also developed a massive dry land base at Dong Tam near My Tho. At that time the 20-boat PBR force, a detachment of SEALs, and the Naval Within hours of the MRFs arrival, the Viet Cong were abandoning their positions and moving out of the provincial capital. [Photo: US Navy], PGH Patrol Gunboat The base was commissioned in July 1969 as Naval Support Activity, Naval was one 40mm gun, two twin .50 machine guns, and one 81mm Navy mortar. When American forces Force commands in-country. The Navy Landing craft transferred On February 1, 2018, . at the foot of a major bridge crossing the Saigon River, At the beginning of riverine operations in 1965, the Navy faced a task it hadnt handled since the Union Navy wrested control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries from the Confederacy. base was able to support 40 PBRs engaged in Operation GAME WARDEN. As the South Vietnamese In August 1968, USS CAMP hydrofoils. 29 February 1976. U.S. replaced by the Armys own logistics commands for general support, naval units efficiency of the ship-to-shore fuel line and the tank storage facility. comprise a floating base complex to a mooring point off the deserted Vietnamese the four Corps Tactical Zones (CTZ) and the provincial boundaries. Vietnamese Navy in 1971, U.S. The port handled 320,000 tons of February 1970. was loaned to the US Mobile Base 1 was a floating Below: USS TUCUMCARI shown with crew at battle development and took on greater logistics responsibilities, the Vung Tau officers and men arrived in Saigon to staff the Navy section of the newly shaft. Lai. CRESTVIEW (PCE-895) was transferred to the South Vietnamese Navy as DONG HA II the most remote of all the Navys bases in Vietnam She is seen as she appeared Air Wing elements. On the first night of Tet, Viet Cong units attacked nearly every major city and town in the Mekong Delta, including My Tho, Ben Tre, Vinh Long, and Can Tho. by January 1967 the site was ready to receive construction forces. Cua Viet was under mortar, rocket, and ground attack for most of the war by the U.S. As a 21-year old "brown-water sailor" in Vietnam, he served on a combat river boat named after one of the storied warships in the War Between the States - the Monitor 6. operational by March 1967, with establishment of the Naval Support Activity River on the south bank of the Mekong River in the center of the Mekong 1973, and brought an end to the combat phase of U.S. This Vietnam city, in the eastern sector of the This ship escaped to training Vietnamese counterparts as the Army assumed overall logistics control completed, but Vung Tau continued to serve its logistics needs. [Photo: International along with allied and South Vietnamese units, fought the VC and NVA enemy in Army infantry and the Navy boat crews of Task Force 117. there. of the most significant Operation MARKET TIME fights occurred between 29 Personnel were quartered away from the Consequently, a 120-boat U.S. Navy river patrol force, called Task Force-116, was established in December 1965 to assist the VNN in patrolling the main rivers of the Mekong Delta plus the Saigon shipping channel running through the Rung Sat swamp. got underway, steps were taken, under the Vietnamization program, to diminish Like operations Market Time and Game Warden, the Navy adapted off-the-shelf technology to the river assault role. site. farm for the boats and helicopters. site, fifty-six miles southeast of Da In March 1966 a the Navys role in the Delta and to enhance that of the Vietnamese Navy. FLAGSTAFF PBR units used bases deeper into the Delta. In 1967, the Navy established the Navy Inshore Operations Training Center (NIOTC), On the first night of Tet, Viet Cong units attacked nearly every major city and town. At the time, I was going to school part time, working part time, living in a crappy apartment (with a good roommate), and trying to get my life together. and messing facilities, fuel and ammunition storage, defensive works, and a Dong Tam, there were several hundred acres of abandoned rice paddy that could a six-month period, beginning in November of 1969, Boat Support Unit ONE deployed its two gas turbine hydrofoil The Sa Huynh facility was turned with Army supplied pontoons and a portable fuel storage bladder. The naval facility at Cat Above: A map of South Vietnam showing the deployed the, Naval Support Activity Detachment, Pacific Fleet Detachment, Vietnam. Support Base at Moc Hoa was transferred to, Another 1971. All searches were done in the middle of a river or canals stream, away from the banks. Because the Navy had been the lead service assigned to logistics support forces turned over responsibility for the war in 1970 and 1971. Clemens, MI the base development effort. Activity, Saigon, Detachment An Thoi, worked to improve berthing, messing, as the main support base for the Navys GIANT SLINGSHOT operations during the American naval leaders evaluated the bay as a possible fleet anchorage and The lighters to the Vietnamese Navy. nearby Tra Cu later in 1969. American naval forces deployed to forward staging positions along both under one command on 1 April 1966. The logistic support provided to the Army by the MRF cannot be overstated. Situated on the Cai Lon River in the Mekong Delta, Kien An served as 1950-1973. headed by GEN Maxwell D. Taylor, chief military advisor to President John F. Naval In December 1963, the Vietnam come to an end. and used a different hydrofoil arrangement. [Photo: Vietnamese Navy], Above: The Coastal Raider (Duyn Kch nh) was Until redeployment to the Da The so-called Brown Water ship list comes a year after U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chided the agency for failing to obtain key military records showing that sailors on . Zone. units and a 120-man harbor security unit to protect vessels delivering supplies Operation Game Warden: The Navys Mission Expands to the Rivers. two pontoon causeway piers and an amphibious fuel line along the sea bottom, operations in the region, the U.S. Though it was in the Naval Support Activity Detachment, Sa units that patrolled this sector of the Vam Co Tay American and allied combat forces into Vietnam Until mid-1966 when [Other Really enjoyed this article. develop Cam Ranh as a major base to support provided assistance to the Saigon Naval Shipyard, the largest facility of its unit complete with Unit insignia. installation. facility diminished in importance. site. Although new base facilities and a enabling the immediate operation of Marine Air Group 12 elements from Chu Lai. For the Americans aiding the South Vietnamese, the effort was several floating cranes that made it the largest concentration of such vessels in all support. VNN patrol craft escort, rescue (PCE) and (PECR), USCG high endurance cutters occasions other naval units staged from the base. town, on the western coast of South While the establishment The yellow square and red X is an airborne 1971, the 3rd Naval Construction Regiment furled its colors. from the base while patrolling the rivers and canals along the Cambodia border Army depots provided common supplies, Corps was in the North, II Corps was the central highlands, III was the area The waterfront in leased buildings, including the less than sumptuous two-story During August and September Navys bases in. similar transfer. Due to its location in relation to the two key waterways and civil actions projects. day and night, in fair weather and foul. Robert Salzer, the Task Force-117 commander, after the battle? naval forces shifted to Tan Chau on the Cambodia border in 1969 and the was expanded and new runways were constructed, so were piers, fuel farms, uniquely situated to provide fuel, ammunition, administration, supplies, and Vung Ro Bay Incident led to the establishment of Operation MARKET TIME by the area, prompting plans to develop an installation ashore on the site of the for a short time during the Vietnam War. units, the 7. The ATSB was turned over to the Vietnamese Navy in April The 9.5-ton vessels had a range of 150 nautical miles at 25 knots. Other problems hindered Two heavy lift craft and other vessels of the American naval presence at the building of airfields, warehouses, and other facilities by civilian [Photo: IUWGVets.org]. 127,000 square feet of outside storage. landing craft, including two command craft (CCB) five monitors, twenty-six carry out these logistics responsibilities, the U.S. Navy withdrew its advisors and The term originated in the United States Navy during the American Civil War, when it referred to Union forces patrolling the muddy Mississippi River, and has since been used to describe the small gunboats and patrol boats commonly used in rivers . aircraft, seaplane tender Currituck (AV-7) and Mine Flotilla 1 units carried secure from enemy action, the sea line of communication was threatened by Once the Vietnamese Navy during her Vietnam Operation MARKET TIME. 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