Over the years the finest officers and men our Navy could muster were sent to live, to work, and some, eventually, to die alongside their Vietnamese counterparts. U. S. Navy DEs were withdrawn from the Gulf of Thailand on 26 May 1962, and the MSO patrol was suspended on 1 August. Original plans called for four APBs, two ARLs, two LSTs, and two River Assault Squadrons (RAS) each consisting of 34 converted LCM-6 craft (26 ATCs, 5 Monitors, 2 CCBs, 1 Refueler), and 16 ASPBs which would be newly constructed.6. In time a new hamlet was established at the site. In December, an operation called Silver Mace, involving the first open sea transit of heavy riverine assault craft, struck at these barricades and in three days removed them. A great deal of attention was of course paid to weather forecasting, and the transit was accomplished in the Gulf of Thailand's "good weather" part of the year. On November 15, 1969, he was a crew member of a Grumman Mohawk Aircraft (OV-1C) on a visual reconnaissance mission, when his aircraft was hit by hostile ground fire and crashed 20 miles southeast of Tra Vinh, Vinh Binh Province, South Vietnam. On 2 March 1968, in recognition of the increasing importance the northern group was assuming, the commander of the Clearwater task force moved his headquarters to Cua Viet. In that month U. S. Navy Oceangoing Minesweepers (MSOs) joined Vietnamese Navy ships in barrier patrols near the seventeenth parallel. Enemy reaction to this unwanted presence in his midst took the form of increased mining and ambush of Swiftboat patrols, and a vigorous psychological warfare operation of his own. In 1964 an enemy mine sank an aircraft transport which was later raised at her berth in Saigon. of the Army Pamphlet 672-3. Until 1960 the Vietnamese Navy experienced a period of modest growth and modernization, assisted by a Navy Section of the U. S. Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), which, in July of that year, had increased to 60 officers and men. On the basis of the evidencethe 17 infiltrators identified in two yearsthere was little to support the claim of large-scale sea infiltration. Many of these lines of supply run through or across navigable water, and naval operations, dating back to the Indochina War, have endeavored to sever or disrupt them. It was believed to consist of either nine or ten elements (Doi) of between 30 and 55 men each. Thousands of bicycles from the towns also carried food and munitions to the front. It was unmistakably evident that great amounts of supplies for the Communists had been brought into Vietnam to support and fuel the offensive. They agreed that a study should be conducted on the subject. Task Force 115 operations at this time were divided into nine patrol areas, 30 to 40 miles deep and 80 to 120 miles long, stretching from the seventeenth parallel in the north along the coast to the Brevie Line2 in the Gulf of Thailand. Naval Advisory Group Vietnam Patch. All of these operations used U. S. Navy and Vietnamese Navy forces as a blocking force while a combination of Australian, Thai, and Vietnamese troops methodically swept the area around the guerrilla group's base camp. If you served in Advisory Team 143, Naval Advisory Group Vietnam, Join TWS for free to reconnect with service friends. In the meantime, TF 116, Game Warden, had been established (on 18 December 1965) with an assigned mission "to assist the Government of South Vietnam in denying the enemy the use of the major rivers of the Delta and the Rung Sat Special Zone. Rear Admiral Ward was assigned additional duty as CTF 116. Update. The ships and barges that made up the floating support assets were also to a great extent pulled from our aging mothball fleet. The Naval Forces Vietnam command had its origins in the Navy Section of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Indochina, which was established in 1950 to provide supplies and equipment to the French. To what degree this public display reflected allegiance to the government in Saigon was difficult to determine, but that the people enjoyed a measure of safety and prosperity long denied them was indisputable. In December the first baby, a little girl, was born on Sea Float to the obvious delight of every sailor on board. Naval Forces, Vietnam Monthly Historical Summary for July 1969 Accession Number: ADA953992 Title: U.S. That headquarters also reported operational and military intelligence through military channels to DOD authorities. A rare application of sea power developed on the rivers and canals of the Delta, the waterways of I Corps, and along the length of the Vietnamese coast. Advisors reported that even these statistics did not reflect the true situation, since units were frequently only "administratively employed. After Market Time broke the sea end of this chain, the logistics flow reversed itself and the local Viet Cong were supplied with necessary munitions infiltrated from the north. 8 A large shipment was considered to be 15-20 sampan lots. By "sequential it was meant, for example, that a VNN sailor would be placed in the crew of one of our boats and trained in the duties of his American counterpart. Drawn carefully on a map, the Rung Sat Special Zone looks curiously like a human brain, its convolutions etched by numberless rivers and streams. Further, the Vietnamese Navy was commanded by a French officer, and most other important posts and commands were held by Frenchmen. Prior to reporting to our boats Vietnamese sailors would be given at least a minimal English language training, but even so it was recognized that to a greater extent than perhaps desirable, "show and tell" instruction would really be "show and do." The Naval Forces Vietnam command had its origins in the Navy Section of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Indochina, which was established in 1950 to provide supplies and equipment to the French. New tactics were devised; new strategies tested. $9.99; $9.99; Publisher Description. Under the terms of the Geneva agreement, a military demarcation line was established near the seventeenth parallel in Vietnam. [4]:323. With the deployment of U. S. Navy combat units to Vietnam in the spring of 1965, the Naval Advisory Group additionally took on operational responsibilities. The attack on the U. S. destroyer Maddox in the Tonkin Gulf in early August signaled a new and dramatically different phase of the war in Vietnam. I had a great time and intend to go again next year. The enemy suffered 21 casualties and the loss of 380 weapons. The original MACV Headquarters were colocated with MAAG at 606 Trn Hng o, Cholon. Beyond question, much of that material had entered and traversed South Vietnam on navigable water, despite Market Time, Game Warden, and the Mobile Riverine Force. By the middle of October 1969, it was estimated that more than 3000 people were living under Vietnamese control in the Nam Can. The simultaneous appearance in other coastal areas of the new 7.62 family of enemy weapons strongly suggested that other sites were being used to receive shipments by sea. Under the original concept, the LSD and LST were to anchor off the mouths of the major rivers in the Delta and serve as operational bases, each supporting 30 PBRs. He found himself the victim of a mutiny on 8 April 1965, when his Force Commanders and other senior officers rose against him, charging him with graft in the operation of a fleet of coastal freighters, which had been seized by the Government at the time of the 1963 coup. PRICE No opposing fire was experienced and after extensively shooting up the area, the ships withdrew. The markets were towns to the north, New Nam Can and Ca Mau primarily. With little modification, these early recommendations shaped the broad direction of our naval program in Vietnam for the next fourteen years. The irregulars were ordinarily recruited from the population in the vicinity of each coastal group. (4) That all Navy commands, unless otherwise specified, be under the operational control of ComNavForV. On 1 September 1966, the first administrative unit of the future Mobile Riverine Force, River Assault Flotilla One, was commissioned at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, California, with Captain W. C. Wells, U. S. Navy, as its Commander. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/navy-seals-beret-flash-vietnam-war-27754383 Reply Thatsrite8182 Additional comment actions In the IV Corps Tactical Zone, the Mobile Riverine Force was the only friendly force that retained the ability to mount sustained and effective counter-offensive operations. They performed valuable service but, like our Victory and Liberty merchant ships, it is doubtful how much additional service life is left in them. The brigade from the 101st Airborne Division was originally planned to replace the 173d Airborne Brigade but, with the need for additional combat forces, both brigades remained in South Vietnam. [3]:435, Large scale combat deployments began when the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade was deployed in the Da Nang area from March 1965. SEALS were used on special warfare and intelligence missions. These were normally collected by armed sampans which took up stations on the heavily traveled water routes. Without the reforms introduced and enforced by this officer, the later "Vietnamization of the naval war would have been virtually impossible. The first capture of infiltrators by a U. S. Navy ship occurred late in May, when the USS Back (DD-761) boarded a junk near the seventeenth parallel. Ultimately, only the rivers and memories will remain. An old Vietnamese woodcutter, captured and abused by the Viet Cong, escaped to tell Vietnamese interrogators that his captors had boasted that they would "visit" Sea Float someday. Beyond the contiguous zone, vessels thought to be of South Vietnamese registry, could be searched. Naval Forces in Vietnam and the Naval Advisory Group, Vietnam, was so impressed with SEAL successes that he wanted "hundreds" of SEALs in Vietnam. The Great Green Fleet of the Delta, the brave PBRs, the Swift boats, and the Brown Water sailor himself will one day soon belong to the past. They had been . Cang, who had been promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in the interim, was relieved of his command, as were the mutineers pending completion of an investigation of the affair. It was assumed that infiltration into South Vietnam by sea fell into two categories: (1) coastwise junk traffic mingling with the more than 50,000 registered civilian craft which plied the coastal waters of South Vietnam; and (2) vessels of trawler size or larger which approached the coast on a generally perpendicular line. If more time should become available, the acceleration could be slowed and the training cycles could be lengthened. As a result of recommendations made to the Secretary of Defense during his July 1965 visit to Vietnam, additional Swift boats were ordered, bringing the approved total to 54 from the 36 originally planned. There were four flag officers either on hand or with orders to Vietnam at the time of Vice Admiral Zumwalts assumption of commandComNavForV, Deputy ComNavForV, Commander U. S. Naval Support Activity, Da Nang, and the Officer in Charge of Construction. They operate with them and they fight alongside them. Ships and patrol craft would be manned by the U. S. Navy, and the U. S. Army would furnish helicopters and pilots. His command and control decisions were shaped by the following principles: (1) U. S. Navy operations in Vietnam would be coordinated with Vietnamese Operations, allowing integrated operations to be instituted as soon as practicable; (2) facilities required for U. S. naval operations would be located with Vietnamese naval installations so that support operations could be integrated, and later turnover of the facilities more practically achieved. For this reason, the MAAG was retained as a separate headquarters. Original MACV HQ, 606 Trn Hng o, Cholon, Saigon, Entrance to second MACV HQ, 137 Pasteur St, Saigon, MACV Headquarters ("Pentagon East") at Tan Son Nhut, 1969, Under the terms of the Paris Peace Accords MACV and all American and third country forces had to be withdrawn from South Vietnam within 60 days of the ceasefire. The Junk Force was officered by the Vietnamese Navy, but it was a frequent complaint of U. S. Navy advisors that seldom, if ever, did a Vietnamese naval officer actually accompany the junks on patrol. By 1954, the strength of the French Navy engaged in the Indochina War stood at more than 10,000 men, and the tiny Vietnamese Navy mustered an additional 1,500 officers and men. Similar conditions were experienced when the LSTs especially re-configured for Game Warden arrived in Vietnam, and so gradually the offshore support concept was abandoned in favor of afloat and shore support bases in the rivers themselves. It was described as a combined U. S. and Vietnamese naval operation to construct a Coastal Group junk and PCF base at Old Nam Can. During my time with the Naval Advisory Group Vietnam I was assigned to Vietnamese Navy Units at Saigon, Moc Hoa, Cal Lanh and Dong Tam. "Combat patrols often consisted of short trips to and from anchorages. At one time charcoal preparation was an important source of the areas meager wealth. 7 In this sense "pacify" means: establishing control over the people who live on the banks, ending Viet Cong tax extortion, denying the waterways to enemy use, while at the same time, restoring the use of the waterways to friendly civilian and military use. Conversely, the Vietnamese sailors, seeing that the boats and the responsibility for operating them were soon going to be theirs, would be expected to redouble their efforts to prepare themselves.

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