Lieutenant Commander Thoai, apparently to effect the further destruction of the trawler, ordered both units to proceed into the harbor. Martin P5 Marlin seaplanes, operating from tenders, and Lockheed P2V Neptunes flying from Tan Son Nhut and later from Cam Ranh Bay, carried out patrol missions across the river entrances south from Vung Tau to An Thoi. Within a short time of its capture by the Viet Cong, Old Nam Can presented a scene of the utmost devastation, and it was literally true that scarcely two stones were left piled one upon the other, save for the brick heaps of the ruined charcoal kilns. It was readily apparent that French transportation alone could never cope with the staggering demands placed upon it, and the assistance of the U. S. Government was requested. Huge construction projects were started at Cam Ranh Bay, Da Nang, and elsewhere. Naturally, stand-off weapons, frequently command-fired from concealed positions well inland, became more attractive to the enemy. It was believed to consist of either nine or ten elements (Doi) of between 30 and 55 men each. It was proposed that these patrols extend upriver for a distance of 25 miles, the range thought practical for appropriate logistic support and for the objective of controlling the river mouths. Captain Phans command was marred by extreme factionalism within his navy, the exiling of many senior naval officers, and inept leadership. It was transported overland to various staging areas just north of the border, and was then brought into South Vietnam by the enemy's well-organized network of Commo-Liaison and transportation people. Properly supported by vigorous and aggressive bank patrols, it is possible that the barriers might have succeeded in virtually shutting off what they could only curtail in the absence of the required level of ground support. Washington: GPO, 1986. PDF DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release; distribution is To carry out the politically necessary task of Vietnamizing the naval war, it was estimated that the Vietnamese Navy would require an additional ten thousand men on top of the seventeen and a half thousand it then had. Operation Sea Float. A region of ragged forests, thick mangrove swamps, barren mud flats, and interlacing rivers and canals whose waters churn to vicious tidal currents, it is not readily apparent why anyone would choose to live there. Classification: Collection had a Kyl-Lott review in September 2003. The new designation went into effect on 1 March 1964. Miscellaneous materials that could not be associated with any one office on the commanders staff also are indicated. While some additional men were absorbed by the training program and by the Sea Forces, many names simply appeared on a padded payroll, or belonged to a disproportionately growing shore establishment. [4]:327 I was part of a two-man team that consisted of a LCDR and me. It is a fair question to ask ourselves why, after such a great and prolonged effort, we had not succeeded in accomplishing more. Under the senior naval commander was the officer actually responsible for naval operations in Indochina, Commander Naval Division Far East. In the summer of 1969 a few charcoal kilns were still standing in the midst of the ruins of Old Nam Can. The last French naval advisors were those assigned to the Naval Academy at Nha Trang, and they left in May 1957. USMC Advisory Team Rung Sat Special Zone (RSSZ), Naval Advisory Group The objective of the raiders was "to stir up the enemy and keep him off-balance," but other dividends were soon realized in terms of enemy equipment destroyed, and in the increased commitments he was forced to make in defense of his well entrenched position in the Nam Can. There was literally nowhere in the Delta, given navigable water, that the Riverine Assault Force could not go. 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.. Food, clothing, and other necessities were of course obtainable locally through the levying of Viet Cong "taxes on the regions inhabitants. The decision had been made in Washington that Vietnamization was vital to continued home support of the war. The nickname Solid Anchor was given this project on 24 October 1969. By the spring of 1970, the personnel strength of Naval Forces, Vietnam had declined by almost 25 per cent since the start of the ACTOV program, and it was projected that by the following August another 25 per cent or more would possibly go home. U.S. The duty mostly required time riding the rivers on U. S. Navy boats that had been turned over to the Vietnamese Navy. [8]:270. Light sniper fire was taken, but by mid-afternoon the immediate area near the sunken trawler was secured and the LDNN began salvage operations. At this time the Government of Vietnam commanded little support within its own structure. The people came from all over the Delta to harvest the wood and fish of the area. 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. 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. Training activities ashore suffered from a lack of facilities and a lack of instructors. ComNavForV directed all commands to make a maximum effort to mobilize local construction equipment and to obtain excess materials in support of the Self-Help shelter program. APPAREL; OUTERWEAR; HEADWEAR; FOOTWEAR; TACTICAL GEAR; . On 21 February 1965, the Commander of the U. S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam requested the Commander-in-Chief Pacific and the Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet to send representatives to Saigon to plan a combined U. S.-Vietnamese Navy patrol effort. Photograph taken from USS Maddox. Initial operations were confined to the Rung Sat Special Zone, where increased Viet Cong attacks on shipping and minesweepers were then being experienced. In the plan, great reliance was placed on "on-the-job" training, and it was hoped that by living with, and operating with, our Brown Water sailors the VNN sailors would learn much by example. 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. With little modification, these early recommendations shaped the broad direction of our naval program in Vietnam for the next fourteen years. The year 1964 was one of rapid change in the posture of U. S. Navy activity in Vietnam. In concept, it was planned that a Brown Water Navy Task Fleet would be formed from the heavy, armored riverine assault craft, and the speedy and highly maneuverable PCFs and PBRs. The LSTs has lieutenants or lieutenant commanders. Such a conception is of course largely romantic. Helicopters and fixed wing aircraft supported the Mobile Riverine Force. There is little good land in the area and it has value, as mentioned earlier, only because of the vital Long Tau shipping channel, and because of its nearness to the capital. At Geneva, France pledged to remove its Expeditionary Force from all of Vietnam when and if requested to do so by "the Government of Vietnam. The nominal Chief of State in the South at that time was the Emperor Bao Dai, then in exile on the French Riviera. 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." In late April 1966, with the Saigon regime locked in a tense confrontation with Buddhist and ARVN rebels in I Corps, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and Westmoreland reopened the effort to acquire the Tan Son Nhut soccer field. Allied sweeps along the Long Tau in this period were also occasionally uncovering 107 mm. At the time, the Military Assistance Advisory Group was the only U.S. military headquarters in South Vietnam. [3]:37, MACV was reorganized on 15 May 1964, and absorbed MAAG Vietnam within it, when combat unit deployment became too large for advisory group control. The daily average employment of those Sea Force and River Force units available for work at sea (and many were unavailable) was roughly 50 per cent. The proposed force would have been quite similar, in fact, to the old French Division Naval dassaut generally known as Dinassaut. The RAG was not provided with a permanently assigned landing force, and, for all practical purposes, operational control had been surrendered to regional Army commanders who employed the river craft almost exclusively in logistic support of encamped ground forces. Ultimately, only the rivers and memories will remain. It was reorganized on 15 May 1964 and absorbed MAAG Vietnam to its command when combat unit deployment became too large for advisory group control. 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. At 11:00 on the 29th, in a simple ceremony, General Weyand furled the colors of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, and formally inactivated it. Three were destroyed, and the fourth was forced to turn back before she entered the "contiguous" zone. Vietnam: Commander Naval Forces Vietnam (COMNAVFORV) The Brown Water Navy in Vietnam - Warboats.org It was inevitable that a significant phase of the counter-insurgency war in Vietnam would be fought on water. Naval Advisory Group Vietnam - togetherweserved Two corps-level HQs were established in 1965-66, Task Force Alpha (soon to become I Field Force, Vietnam) for U.S. forces in the II Corps Tactical Zone and II Field Force, Vietnam, for U.S. Army forces in the III Corps Tactical Zone. Provision for systematic screening of materials declared excess by all military commands. Distinguished Flying Cross, Operational loss, Vietnam, 559th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Fixed Wing, USNA 22nd Company. In the same month the Vietnamese Navy was finally persuaded to absorb the Junk Force into the regular Navy, a move long urged by advisors as one which might lead to increasing the effectiveness of coastal patrols. The popular conception of the enemy in Vietnam is that he is an ephemeral figure who travels light, lives off the land, and at the moment of battle somehow always manages to supply himself with arms and munitions dug up from long-buried caches, or plucked magically from the hollow stumps of jungle trees. Inside, according to one staff officer, "the well-waxed corridors had the fluorescent feel of an airport terminal." Though there were five Coastal Surveillance Centers, there were only four Coastal Zones, Qui Nhon and Nha Trang sharing responsibility for the Second Coastal Zone. As provided for in the organization of the task force headquarters in the contingency plans, MACV's commander was also his own Army component commander. At the end of 1963, the Junk Force consisted of 632 junks, 400 VNN officers and men, and 3,700 civilian irregulars. He practiced and preached the need for his officers to avoid the political involvements which had crippled the Navy for so long. It is a bitter pill for a whole generation of American "nation builders to swallow, but the brutal fact is that no Vietnamese Government until possibly the present one inspired in its people the loyalty, the unhesitating support, the patriotism and spirit of self-sacrifice essential to the welding of an effective defense force. Lieutenant Commander Rodgers reported the sighting his counterpart, Lieutenant Commander Thoai, Vietnamese Navy, the Second Coastal Zone Commander, and arranged for an aircraft to investigate. 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. 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. Access: Open but with some access limitations. They permitted the enemy to fire from relatively safe positions, well back from the river bank. The third and perhaps most important task was to develop and recommend a plan which, if approved, would make it possible to accelerate the scheduled turnover of U. S. Navy equipment to the Vietnamese. By September the Nam Can population figures were growing at a rapid rate, doubling the number of people in the Sea Float area of operations every 25 days. 9 This canal is 50 to 100 feet wide, 15-20 feet deep, and 10 to 12 miles long. [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. 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. 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. The Bucklew Report was critical of the sea patrol then in effect, and recommended augmenting it with U. S. forces. "River Patrol Relearned, by Commander S. A. Swarztrauber, U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1970. Gradually, however, as it became evident that the campaign was not going to be of short duration, visitors to the MATSB came in ever increasing numbers. 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. Two months later, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), recently reorganized from an infantry formation, reported in country, and the rest of the 1st Infantry Division arrived in October. Such was the situation at Dien Bien Phu. Later in the month the USS Benewah (APB-35) reported. The Junk Force was seriously undermanned, with some Coastal Groups reduced to little more than 50 per cent of authorized strength. The Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnamese Navy in the last years of the Diem regime was Captain Ho Tan Quyen. This had been largely accomplished with river patrols, drastic defoliation, mine sweeping, and by hunting the enemy on land. Contact with a generally elusive enemy was established on seven occasions. Fish from the rivers and seas are an important staple in the Vietnamese diet. You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Proceedings this month. The concept of sequential turnover was the keystone of the Navys ACTOV plan, and it called for a gradual phasing in of Vietnamese personnel in all U. S. craft and facilities to be turned over. This headquarters became the Defense Attach Office, Saigon. The holding ground was good and the moor was successful. 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 battalion of either Vietnamese Marines, or the Mobile Strike Force was requested to augment the Rung Sat Commanders ground troops. The ship was observed to be of the trawler type, about 130 feet long and displacing perhaps 100 tons. The River Patrol Force and the Vietnamese Navy outdid themselves as they brought their highly mobile fire power and unquestioned courage to the defense of the besieged cities. 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 advisory role was taking second priority and receiving less command attention than the growing direct involvement of U. S. fighting units. * In a third category are the divisional records of particular offices (i.e., Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans, Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations). A joint organization, it contained an Army, Navy, and Air Force section, each responsible for advising its counterpart in the Vietnamese armed forces and for The feeble political position of the Vietnamese Navy in the General Staff organization made it almost totally subservient to Army control, and to commanders who were often ignorant of how to exploit Navy capabilities. The heart of the problem was, of course, political and not peculiar to the Vietnamese Navy, nor for that matter to the Vietnamese armed forces as a whole. TWS is the largest online community of Veterans existing today and is a powerful Veteran locator. The Navy helicopter gunships, Seawolves, would provide support for Sea Lords in much the same way that they were supporting Game Warden and Mobile Riverine Force operations. Harkins became the senior U.S. military commander in South Vietnam and responsible for U.S. military policy, operations and assistance there. The next day, 18 February, a conference was held in Nha Trang with Brigadier General William E. Depuy, U. S. Army, of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam J-3 staff; presiding. There were other reasons as well which argued strongly in that direction. Admiral Harry D. Felt, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, established the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, on 8 February 1962, as a subordinate unified command under his control. [9] Establishment [ edit] The Vietnamese Navy and the advisory effort had expanded sharply. Our Navy itself was old and afflicted with bloc obsolescence. This was a factor of no small importance in an area affected by monsoon winds and seas. Sea Float sailors constructed schools in each of the two newly settled hamlets. Ships were loaned to CFF 115 by the Seventh Fleet. In May, Military Assistance Advisory Group Vietnam was absorbed by Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), and Navy Section MAAG became the Naval Advisory Group, MACV.