Many long-standing deficiencies were corrected and the worst of the factionalism rapidly disappeared. The successor to the murdered Captain Quyen as Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnamese Navy was Captain Chung Tan Cang. The Interdiction Barriers. By end of year, 254 Sailors were assigned to MACV and NAG. Captain Phans command was marred by extreme factionalism within his navy, the exiling of many senior naval officers, and inept leadership. Each service continued to provide its own logistical support. The insurgency problem in South Vietnam began to assume serious proportions late in 1959, when it became apparent to many observers that increased U. S. military aid would be required if the independence of the South was to be preserved. "Building the Advanced Base at Da Nang, by Captain K. P. Huff, U. S. Naval Reserve, in Naval Review 1968. With the elapse of five months, all the three same brigades remained in the new division, but the brigade at Chu Lai was now named the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, after a responsibility swap that had occurred in August. The following morning LSM 405 arrived at Tuy Hoa to embark the company of troops, but the Province Chief refused to provide them, asserting that the area surrounding Vung Ro Bay and the Cap Varella peninsula was too strongly held by the Viet Cong. Almost from the very beginning, the weather was an inhibiting factor. Stripped of its top leadership, and its remaining officers in a state of high excitement and confusion, the Vietnamese Navy careened along an uncertain path. They agreed that a study should be conducted on the subject. That headquarters also reported operational and military intelligence through military channels to DOD authorities. Navy Vietnam Patches | Flying Tigers Surplus The Junk Force was seriously undermanned, with some Coastal Groups reduced to little more than 50 per cent of authorized strength. In mid-1970 cyclo drivers in Saigon were earning more than Vietnamese Navy Lieutenants, and it was not at all uncommon to encounter beggars in uniform on the streets of the capital city. While the Junk Force was concerned with inshore and Delta river traffic, the Vietnamese Navy Sea force ships assigned to Market Time patrol were ordinarily placed under the operational control of the Coastal Zone commanders. PRICE [9]:189, By 29 March, the only American military personnel left in South Vietnam were the U.S. delegates to the Four-Party Joint Military Commission established under the Paris Peace Accords to oversee the ceasefire, themselves in the process of winding up work and departing; the fifty man DAO military contingent; and a 143-man Marine Security Guard. Broad areas of the banks were soon taken over by the drying catch. The city, a pathetic oasis of nominal Saigon control, in a region which had been a Communist sanctuary for many years, was finally overrun during the 1968 Tet offensive and later abandoned by the Government of Vietnam. At the end of 1963, the Junk Force consisted of 632 junks, 400 VNN officers and men, and 3,700 civilian irregulars. The River Patrol Force had 2032 men assigned and 197 of its authorized 250 PBRs. Islands and territorial waters to the north of that line are Cambodian and, to the south, Vietnamese. Naval Association of Canada - Association Navale du Canada A most significant factor was the deplorable care, housing, and security of dependent families. In attempting to restore the records to their original arrangement, they first were divided into those of Chief, Naval Advisory Group and Commander, Naval Forces Vietnam. Whereas 19 attacks on merchant shipping occurred in June prior to the start of the operation, a high for the war, none at all occurred during the remainder of the month, and only two occurred in July. With relatively few exceptions, our sailors, Amend and Vietnamese, accepted the challenge and perform well in the months following the implementation the plan. Also attending were representatives from the Vietnamese Army's 23rd Division, the Vietnamese Special Forces, the Vietnamese Navy, and the U. S. Navy. On the last full day of the operation a particularly large ammunition cache was destroyed. His long-time associate and premier, Ngo Dinh Diem, announced on 7 July 1955 that a referendum would be held in October to permit the people to choose between Bao Dai and himself. If you have a conquering spirit and are not afraid of even the most complex problems, apply now to Naval Group! Sealords: the Riverine Interdiction Campaign a Thesis in History - Tdl A defensive sea area was proposed which would extend 40 miles from the coast, and it was recommended that the Republic of Vietnam authorize U. S. Naval forces to "stop, board, search, and, if necessary, capture and/or destroy any hostile suspicious craft or vessel found within South Vietnams territorial and contiguous zone waters.. Navy Naval Advisory Group Vietnam | Navy Veteran Locator - togetherweserved They were accompanied by the USS Mercer (APB-39) and the USS Satyr (ARL-23). 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. In April, Operation Silver Mace II was launched with combined U. S. Navy, U. S. Air Force, Vietnamese Army, Navy, and Marine Corps units. In September 1965, Rear Admiral Ward raised the question of naval command relationships in Vietnam with CNO and with General Westmoreland. The problem of attracting adequate ground forces has already been addressed. [8]:26870, On 2 July 1966 construction started on a new purpose-built facility. He practiced and preached the need for his officers to avoid the political involvements which had crippled the Navy for so long. The structure of the enemy force responsible for the attacks on Long Tau shipping was rather well known. Meanwhile, to the despair of U. S. Navy advisors, the Vietnamese River Assault Groups frequently found themselves involved in logistic support and static defense roles assigned them by ARVN ground commanders. Naval Forces, Vietnam Monthly Historical Summary for July 1969 Descriptive Note: Corporate Author: NAVAL FORCES VIETNAM FPO SAN FRANCISCO 96626 Personal Author (s): Report Date: 1969-10-01 Pagination or Media Count: 117.0 Abstract: Shortly before the referendum, Diem informed the U. S. Government that he had decided to ask the French to withdraw the Expeditionary Force by March 1956, explaining that he considered the continued presence of French troops in the south to be "one of the principal Communist assets.. On 12 January the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific assigned the task force designator 117 and the descriptive title "Riverine Assault Force. On 28 February, TF 117 was officially activated under the operational control of ComNavForV and the administrative control of ComPhibPac. 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. 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. Until March 1965. 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. MACV was first implemented to assist the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) Vietnam, controlling every advisory and assistance effort in Vietnam. He further proposed that all support functions and bases be transferred by the end of the fiscal year 1972. Finally, the Report indicated that U. S. Navy forces might have to ' be deployed in the Delta rivers to stop Communist infiltration, thus anticipating later Game Warden operations. Naval Advisory Group Vietnam, HQ, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) United States Navy Strength Group Type HQ/Command Elements Years 1960 - 1973 Report To HQ, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Reporting Units 4th Coastal Zone Advisory Team 143 Advisory Team 159 Advisory Team 57 Advisory Team 63 Advisory Team 86 Coastal Group 16 The NAVFORV and Naval Advisory Group records fall into several main series. Such a conception is of course largely romantic. They urged an end to the "U. S. aggressive war" and threatened to "blow the American Navy out of the water." of Defense in South Vietnam (1962-73), U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. This leaves a tremendous gap for the student of the navy in Vietnam for the . It should be considered by those who criticize the U. S. Navy for "usurping responsibilities rightfully belonging to the Vietnamese Navy at that particular stage of the war. Significantly, this marked the formal recognition of the Naval Advisory Group's new role as an operational as well as an advisory command. U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) was a joint-service command of the United States Department of Defense. Significant improvement in the existing structure and performance of the Vietnamese Navy would also be required. In July 1965, in response to the growing size of U.S. Army forces in the country, United States Army Vietnam was established, and both the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division as well as the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, deployed from the United States. The economy of the Nam Can grew dramatically, the population mushroomed, and the pace of the pacification effort was quickened to keep in step. In 1964 an enemy mine sank an aircraft transport which was later raised at her berth in Saigon. It Was decided the boats would be based at Qui Nhon, Cain Ranh Bay, and Vung Tau. It was the function of these centers to coordinate patrols of the two navies, but in practice some duplication occurred. Despite an avowed intention late in the war to increase the combat role of the Vietnamese, particularly under the ill-starred Navarre Plan, the war ended with the Vietnamese Navy operating only one Infantry Landing Ship Large (LSIL), one LCU, and some thirty smaller amphibious craft. At the urging of American advisors the Junk Force was absorbed into the Vietnamese Navy in 1965. Prior to his departure, Rear Admiral Veth had recommended to General Abrams and to the Chief of Naval Operations a plan to turn over two River Assault Squadrons (roughly the equivalent of six Vietnamese Navy River Assault Groups) by the end of the fiscal year 1969- Vice Admiral Zumwalt proposed to expand that plan so that virtually all U. S. Navy operational responsibilities in Vietnam with the equipment necessary for meeting them, would be turned over by 30 June 1970. There was a need for "an accelerated progress in improving Vietnamese capabilities in order that U. S. forces could, in fact, be withdrawn in significant numbers. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Secretary was further quoted as saying that "our orientation seems to have been more on operations than on assisting the South Vietnamese to acquire the means to defend themselves. While this may not have been intended as criticism of the past conduct of the war, it was unmistakable direction as to where future priorities were to be placed. Ships and patrol craft would be manned by the U. S. Navy, and the U. S. Army would furnish helicopters and pilots. Navy Vietnam Patches - US Navy Patches - Naval Station Patches, Ship Patches, Submarine patches and Navy Fleet Patches - Flying Tigers Surplus. In April, as the first Game Warden PBRs became operational, patrols were begun in the Rung Sat Special Zone, and in the following month operations were expanded into the Delta. The Commander of the task force could say with obvious pride that "Commanders involved in this unique operation felt that they had succeeded in gaining the most difficult of all military advantages in this warsurprise.. From an operation which at one time was thought to have been assigned to the Vietnamese Navy because no Vietnamese Army officer in his right mind could be found to accept it, the Rung Sat Special Zone by early 1970 had become a model for what could be made of a seemingly hopeless situation, given leadership, singleness of purpose, and a spark of imagination. There were really two reasons. These were given the nicknames Friendship and Platypus. The Junk Force was viewed by many Vietnamese naval officers with something akin to disdain. The two Vietnamese RAIDS promptly began operations on the Giant Slingshot barrier. With the arrival of the second APB, the USS Colleton (APB-36), in early May, plans were made to move all these units of the Mobile Riverine Base to Dong Tam. They permitted the enemy to fire from relatively safe positions, well back from the river bank. "Jackstay: New Dimensions in Amphibious Warfare, by Lieutenant Commander Robert E. Mumford, Jr., U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1968. The Coastal Surveillance Force enjoyed its finest hour as it thwarted a desperate attempt by the Communists to resupply the offensive by the simultaneous infiltration of four steel-hulled vessels of the fishing trawler type laden with arms. The enemy was unable to infiltrate and stockpile sufficient material in the Delta to sustain any significant offensive action, much less repeat the violence unleashed in the 1968 Tet offensive; Enemy forces in the Delta were gradually starved for supplies and ammunition, and hard pressed to maintain themselves; and. PDF DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release; distribution is TWS is the largest online community of Veterans existing today and is a powerful Veteran locator. In IV Corps Tactical Zone, this situation would plague Sea Lords operations from beginning to end. Inside, according to one staff officer, "the well-waxed corridors had the fluorescent feel of an airport terminal." The large build-up of U. S. Navy forces in Vietnam was accompanied by a rapid expansion of the Vietnamese Navy. In 1963, Vietnamese patrols searched a reported 135,911 junks and 388,725 people, of whom only 6 were determined to be infiltrators. It recommended the development of a mobile patrol force along the Cambodian and Laotian borders. The first permanent United States naval presence in Vietnam was established in August 1950, soon after the outbreak of the Korean War, when the Navy Section of Military Assistance Advisory Group, Indo china, was formed in Saigon with Commander James B. Cannon, U. S. Navy, and seven officers and men. A rumor, the authenticity of which could not be determined, circulated on Sea Float that "Hanoi Hannah" herself had taken note of the new operation and she had warned that the MATSB would be "at the bottom of Song Cua Lon by 17 July." The ship was observed to be of the trawler type, about 130 feet long and displacing perhaps 100 tons. Statistical studies, however, showed that detection probabilities at the level of forces then assigned were still quite low. Long lines of motorized cargo sampans moved north through the Cai Nhap9 laden with wood and fish products. Join now and never hit a limit. It's on the right bc it was developed from slides. [8], The Vietnamese government refused to turn over the most suitable location, a soccer field (104845.62N 1063957.49E / 10.8126722N 106.6659694E / 10.8126722; 106.6659694 (post-1967 MACV, Saigon)) near the civilian air terminal, allegedly because Premier Nguyn Cao K wanted to keep the property for a postwar tourist hotel. As was proven time and time again in Brown Water Nan operations in Vietnam, cooperation with trained and aggressive ground forces was the real key to success. It was unmistakably evident that great amounts of supplies for the Communists had been brought into Vietnam to support and fuel the offensive. Public services broke down in the crush. Navy, consisting of a Marine Group of two landing battalions. The facilities at Cua Viet were almost constantly subject to enemy artillery and rocket attack, and the pressures and rigors of life at this exposed forward base were extreme. It appears to be sparsely populated in comparison with the rest of the Delta, but an accurate census has never been taken. Overview: American leaders established the Military Assistance Advisory Command, Vietnam, in May 1964. Hundreds of sampans of all sizes, hundreds of thousands of bamboo rafts crossed rapids and cascades to supply the front. The Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG-7), for example, had an effective range nearly three times that of the older RPG-2. The year 1964 was one of rapid change in the posture of U. S. Navy activity in Vietnam. Numerous bunkers and fortifications were thrown up, and solidly constructed barricades appeared across the more important waterways in an all-out Viet Cong effort to end the Swift boat raids. After 30 years and learning the computer and finding VetFriends, I went to my first reunion of the USS Navasota AO-106. When he was considered ready to take over, the American would leave and a second VNN sailor would be assigned to train in the duties of another American crew member until eventually the entire crew became Vietnamese. "Combat patrols often consisted of short trips to and from anchorages. *The appendices are missing from the files as of October 2020. 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. The Junk Force was notorious for "gun-decking its operational reports. Specific recommendations included: (1) the provision of modern, radar-equipped patrol aircraft; (2) the supply of a variety of small ships and craft for extending the offshore patrol into coastal waters, and for broadening the scope of river operations; and (3) the establishment of adequate repair and logistic facilities to maintain the new equipment to be provided. In addition to taxes in kind, it was estimated that the Viet Cong were able to extort several million piasters each year from this region to fuel their war effort in the lower Delta. By the fall of 1968, "Vietnamization" of the war (although the term itself was not to be coined until the President-elect's speech on 31 December) had become a matter of the greatest political urgency and it seemed clear that it would remain so, regardless of the outcome of the November elections in the United States. With little modification, these early recommendations shaped the broad direction of our naval program in Vietnam for the next fourteen years. A period of 300 days was set aside for the phased withdrawal of Viet Minh and French military forces to the north and south of that line respectively. It was hoped that this move would increase the morale and the performance of the force. Other parts of the U. S. Navy family came to his assistance. These trawlers were believed to originate in North Vietnam and Communist China. Chronology - Navy The Marlins were phased out of service by 1967. "Marine Corps Operations in Vietnam 1965-1968, by Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, U. S. Marine Corps, in Naval Reviews 1968, 1969, 1970. Provision for systematic screening of materials declared excess by all military commands. On 31 March 1970 a group of American businessmen in Saigon, including several ex-naval officers, established the "Operation Helping Hand Foundation for the purpose of soliciting and accepting personal contributions to the Vietnamese Navys welfare programs. In numbers of ships and craft assigned, the River Forces had not appreciably changed since 1955. If it seemed unusual for the U. S. Navy to go into the pigs and chickens business halfway around the world, it was. TWS is the largest online community of Veterans existing today and is a powerful Veteran locator. Simple medical treatment was also provided, and the scope of this expanded rapidly with the arrival of a Vietnamese hospital ship (LSM-H). Having the Naval Ships Systems Command provide bunks and mattresses, which might be available from Navy ships being decommissioned. U.S. LSM 405 landed a company of Vietnamese Army troops at 1830 to assist with the handling of this material, but an hour later, in spite of heated argument by the American advisors, both companies were embarked in LSM 405, although large quantities of arms and munitions remained on the beach. [6]:2 Naval Support Activity Danang (NSA Danang), provided logistic support to all American forces in I Corps, where the predominant Marine presence demanded a naval supply establishment. 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. The Naval Advisory Group was a division of the MACV staff organization and Chief, Naval Advisory Group was therefore without command authority, including disciplinary authority, over any naval personnel in-country. The situation, in the fall of 1968 was not one for faint hearts. 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. A concerted and innovative psychological operation might succeed in winning the people to active support of the government of Vietnam, the majority of whom were judged to be apolitical. In September 1966, Captain Phan was removed from his post, and command of the Navy passed to Lieutenant General Cao Van Vien of the Vietnamese Army. With an initial authorized strength of 216 men (113 Army), MACV was envisaged as a temporary HQ that would be withdrawn once the Viet Cong insurgency was brought under control.