Further, the Vietnamese Navy was commanded by a French officer, and most other important posts and commands were held by Frenchmen. 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. While many of our ships were old, and much of our equipment was, too, the Brown Water sailor exemplified youth. 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. Captain Chon brought dynamic leadership, a new sense of purpose, and, perhaps most important, a period of much needed command stability to the Vietnamese Navy. Personal possessions representing the savings of a lifetime were hawked fruitlessly from door to door. More than 5000 landings were recorded in the first year of operations from the single-spot helo deck of the USS Benewah alone. 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 decision had been made in Washington that Vietnamization was vital to continued home support of the war. It pointed out, however, the essential futility of a sea quarantine in the absence of an accompanying effort to block inland infiltration routes. Notebooks and pencils were secured and distributed. His forces were divided into three area commands; North, Central, and South Vietnam. Normally, each patrol area was the responsibility of a DER or, if sufficient DERs were not available, an MSO. In August new combined operations were launched against the base camp areas in the Nhon Trach "sanctuary" area outside of the Rung Sat, which was a much harder area for the Viet Cong to hide in. Hundreds of sampans of all sizes, hundreds of thousands of bamboo rafts crossed rapids and cascades to supply the front. Photograph taken from USS Maddox. The Rung Sat. 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. In all, more than 800,000 people are thought to have fled the North, while less than 100,000, including Viet Minh troops, opted to make the journey in the opposite direction. Additional patrol aircraft were provided by the Commander of the Seventh Fleet. Vessels in the contiguous zone, extending 12 miles from the coast, suspected as infiltrators were also made subject to search and seizure. The area commands were in turn divided into river, coastal, and sea forces. (6) That ComNavForV administer all naval construction in 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. The Naval Advisory Group reported that "there were cases of failures to carry out orders and missed commitments, but not as many as might have been predicted.. Such was the situation at Dien Bien Phu. The number of people then living under Vietnamese control in the area was estimated to be about 9,000. 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. Lieutenant Commander Thoai, supported by Lieutenant Commander Sang from the office of the Vietnamese Navy Chief of Staff, refused to order the troops back ashore. PRICE Operation Search Turn was launched on 2 November 1968 and succeeded in establishing the first of the interdiction barriers, on the Rach Gia Long Xuyen and Ca San Canals in the upper Mekong Delta. Navy Awards and Decorations - The Mobile Riverine Force - MRFA These trawlers were believed to originate in North Vietnam and Communist China. Joint-service command of the US Dept. Under the senior naval commander was the officer actually responsible for naval operations in Indochina, Commander Naval Division Far East. The training programs at logistic support bases would, of necessity, be much longer and would proceed at a much slower pace. Each service continued to provide its own logistical support. "[8]:270, The air-conditioned structure of two-story prefabricated buildings, a little more than a third the size of its Washington namesake, included twelve acres of enclosed office space. Specific activities which were initiated included: In all, it was estimated that the growing Vietnamese Navy would require 14,000 housing units. 3 Operational Command is the authority to assign missions or forces. To improve co-ordination and management of communications-electronics assets, the brigade commander served as the U.S. Army, Vietnam, staff adviser on all matters pertaining to Army communications-electronics. Operating initially with five APAs, two AKAs, two LSDs, two APDs, and four LSTs, his task force grew in the first three months of the operation to more than 100 Navy and MSTS ships and craft. Advisors reported that even these statistics did not reflect the true situation, since units were frequently only "administratively employed. The Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, and Delta Strategy (Sea Lords) brought to fruition the long-considered plan to complement the Market Time blockade of the coast of South Vietnam by an inland naval patrol along the Cambodian border from the Gulf of Thailand to an area northeast of the "Parrot's Beak." In April, Operation Silver Mace II was launched with combined U. S. Navy, U. S. Air Force, Vietnamese Army, Navy, and Marine Corps units. As is true for much of the Delta, waterways are vital routes to and from markets, and roads are virtually non-existent. 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. Dept. On 29 April it was announced that Coast Guard Squadron One, with seventeen 82-foot cutters (WPBS), would be lifted to Vietnam for Market Time operations. In May 1961, President Kennedy announced an expansion of the Military Assistance Program for Vietnam, including large increases in the paramilitary Junk Force, which had been operating some 80 sailing junks on patrols near the seventeenth parallel, since about I960. The individual shelter units were by no means grand, but they were a vast improvement over the pitifully few shelters that had existed before. The remainder would have to be sought elsewhere. In April 1967, General Westmoreland, who had arrived in June 1964 as Commander of MACV, organized a division-sized blocking force along the border between North and South Vietnam. It recommended the development of a mobile patrol force along the Cambodian and Laotian borders. If you served in Advisory Team 143, Naval Advisory Group Vietnam, Join TWS for free to reconnect with service friends. The streets of the two principal evacuation centers, Hanoi and Haiphong, were soon choked with masses of desperate people. NAVAL ADVISORY GROUP, VIETNAM? - VetFriends The DAO performed many of the same roles of MACV within the restrictions imposed by the Paris Peace Accords until the Fall of Saigon. In part, this name change reflected the fact that the United States now sent aid directly to the Vietnamese rather than to the French. Helicopters and fixed wing aircraft supported the Mobile Riverine Force. 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. [7] COMUSMACV was in one sense the top person in charge of the U.S. military on the Indochinese peninsula; however, in reality, the CINCPAC and the U.S. ambassadors to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia also had "top person in charge" status with regard to various aspects of the war's strategy. Song Ong Doc U.S. Naval Riverine Operational Base (1970) The advisory effort, meanwhile, grew rapidly. The Indochina War lasted seven years, seven months, and two days, more than twice as long as the Korean War. "Fighting Boats of the United States, by Captain Richards T. Miller, U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1968. Harkins had the task of advising the South Vietnamese government on security, organization, and employment of their military and paramilitary forces. At 1030 on 16 February 1965, Lieutenant James S- Bowers, U. S. Army, while piloting a UH-1B helicopter on a medical rescue mission from Qui Nhon, sighted a camouflaged ship lying in Vung Ro Bay on South Vietnams central coast. 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: The records in this collection were collected at the naval headquarters in Saigon by naval officers who acted as historians and were assigned to the staff. The effects this development had on the U. S. Navys role in Vietnam were extremely important and resulted in the eventual substitution of American for French influence in the shaping of the young Vietnamese Navy. In many cases the historians in Saigon made detailed listings of the messages and these are filed as appendices to this inventory. On 16 April he relinquished his duties as CTF 115 to Captain Clifford L. Stewart, U. S. Navy, the new Commander of the Coastal Surveillance Force. 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. The Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet, common superior of Commander Seventh Fleet and Chief, Naval Advisory Group, determined which units would be assigned. With the eviction of Viet Cong "tax collectors" from the principal water routes, civilian traffic on the rivers noticeably increased. [9]:18, The advance echelon of USSAG/7AF moved from Tan Son Nhut Air Base to Nakhon Phanom on 29 January 1973. In recognition of the expanding U. S. role, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) was established in February 1962, and the Headquarters Support Activity was commissioned on 1 July. A new task organization, TF 194, was created for Sea Lords, and assets were chopped to "First Sea Lord" for Specific operations by the commanders of Market Time, Game Warden, and the Mobile Riverine Force. After 30 years and learning the computer and finding VetFriends, I went to my first reunion of the USS Navasota AO-106. During this period, advisors from the Naval Advisory Group and the Marine Corps Advisory Unit, attached to Commander United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, provided guidance and assistance to the Vietnamese Navy and Vietnamese Marine Corps throughout the Republic of Vietnam. 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. Naval Advisory Group Naval Forces Vietnam Naval Intelligence Liaison Officer National Police Field Force North Vietnamese Army Patrol Boat, River vii . This requirement was strongly re-emphasized later in the month when General Abrams returned from a visit to the United States. The chief naval advisor, Admiral Ward, foresaw the necessity for eventually returning responsibility for all naval operations in Vietnam to the Vietnamese Navy. Broad areas of the banks were soon taken over by the drying catch. "Application of Doctrine; Victory at Van Tuong Village, by Brigadier General O. F. Peatross, U. S. Marine Corps, in Naval Review 1967. Military Assistance Advisory Group - Wikipedia By the spring of 1970 it was believed that appropriated funds could be found to finance 10,500 of these. 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 assisting the chief of the advisory group in administering the Military Assistance Program. Harkins concurred and General James Francis Collins, commander of United States Army Pacific and Admiral Felt approved the redesignation. Operation Sea Float. If the Vietnamese Navy were to continue effective operations in the area after the withdrawal of the U. S. Navy, some sort of an operational and support base would be required. "Jackstay: New Dimensions in Amphibious Warfare, by Lieutenant Commander Robert E. Mumford, Jr., U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1968. The Navy's fixed wing OV-10 light attack aircraft (Black Ponies) would not arrive in Vietnam until the following April. They are attached to nearly every Vietnamese naval unit. Thanks VetFriends. MAJ, USAF. This undoubtedly irritated those Vietnamese officers who felt their functions were being usurped by the Americans. A sense of frustration and lack of incentive was part of the dry rot that had set in as early as 1956, paralyzing effective action and inducing a curious numbness in the operating forces. 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. [2]:59. Under the terms of the Geneva agreement, a military demarcation line was established near the seventeenth parallel in Vietnam. [3]:45 In May 1965, the Army's 173d Airborne Brigade from Okinawa arrived. Viet Cong banners were raised along the waterways which read "Americans and Vietnamese Soldiers Who Come Here Will Die," and "We Kill Americans." The Bucklew Report was critical of the sea patrol then in effect, and recommended augmenting it with U. S. forces. For this reason, the MAAG was retained as a separate headquarters. [2]:59, MACV was disestablished on 29 March 1973 and replaced by the Defense Attach Office (DAO), Saigon. The "Vung Ro Incident," as it came to be called, led directly to Market Time, the U. S. Navy's first large-scale operational participation in the Vietnam War. Enlarge. 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. The consequences of this bitter infighting for the operational effectiveness of the Vietnamese Navy, in this period, may well be imagined. 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. TWS is the largest online community of Veterans existing today and is a powerful Veteran locator. There were other reasons as well which argued strongly in that direction. Overview: American leaders established the Military Assistance Advisory Command, Vietnam, in May 1964. In 1970, Zumwalt would become the youngest officer to become Chief of Naval Operations. River assault craft not only landed and extracted troops, but also provided close and accurate gunfire support, medical evacuation of the wounded, and the supply of ammunition. 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. (5) That ComNavForV be responsible to ComUSMACV for logistic support of all naval forces, including III MAF in I Corps. B. Witham, U. S. Navy, relieved Rear Admiral Ward as CTF 116. Historically, woodcutting has been the principal economic activity of the Nam Can, with fishing ranking a distant second. 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. At 08:00 on 15 February, USAF General John W. Vogt Jr., as USSAG/7AF commander, took over from MACV control of American air operations. Naval Advisory Group Vietnam - Navy Veterans American-furnished material doubled and redoubled the Vietnamese Navy inventory. Until March 1965. In the morning, shortly after 0800, all three ships moved into Vung Ro Bay, preceded by heavy air strikes and naval gunfire support. In June the first operational test of the offshore support ship concept was initiated when the USS Tortuga (BD-26), which had arrived in May, anchored near the mouths of the Co Chien and Bassac Rivers. By end of year, 254 Sailors were assigned to MACV and NAG. 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. Training activities ashore suffered from a lack of facilities and a lack of instructors. This proposal received strong backing from ComNavForV and from Commanding General, II Field Force Vietnam. Additional naval forces, U. S. and Vietnamese, were committed to the operation. 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. 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. 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." Many of the records were used to prepare a monthly Historical Summary of naval activities in Vietnam. Vast numbers of people live on or near the rivers, canals, and seacoasts. On 1 August 1965, operational responsibility for Market Time passed from the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet to General Westmoreland, and operational control from Commander Task Force 71, who had held this duty as a collateral function, to Commander Task Force 115, which was the new designation of the Commander of the Coastal Surveillance 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 heaviest fighting of the war had occurred in the North, and consequently the bulk of the French Expeditionary Force and the great mass of its equipment were located there when the fighting ended. The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment was alerted for assignment to Southeast Asia on 11 March 1966. U. S. Marines, traditionally the force trained and equipped for amphibious assault operations, were not available, already having been committed in maximum strength to the I Corps Tactical Zone. It was the Admirals view at the time that "Vietnamese Navy participation is the key to the success of this operation. To underscore the importance of the cooperative aspects of the venture, a Vietnamese naval officer was assigned as second in command of the MATSB. The following sections Historical Note, Scope and Content Notes, and Arrangement and Description were written by the collections original processors, Dr. Oscar Fitzgerald and Mrs. Sharyn Walker, on 13 December 1974. 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. The companion piece to this tragedy, often conveniently forgotten by later critics of the war and self-styled pacifists, was the liquidation of perhaps 50,000 "enemies of the people, by the Communists own estimate, during the consolidation of Viet Minh rule in the North. 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. In September, Operation Chuong Duong struck at the same area, and in October the first of a series of operations called Wolf Pack lashed out at Doan-10. In the North, the intense and tragic struggle for Hue made it absolutely essential that water communication by way of the Perfume River remain open. The NavForV program did not stop with the construction of shelters. This eventually included the major combat formations: Coastal Surveillance Force (Task Force 115), River Patrol Force (Task Force 116) and Riverine Assault Force (Task Force 117). There was always the danger that one of his attacks might succeed in sinking a large ship in the deep water channel, thereby disrupting the flow of supplies to Saigon. At this time, U. S. personnel also assumed an advisory role whereas during the French era they had primarily supplied material. It was hoped that this move would increase the morale and the performance of the force. Control of the waterways of Vietnam also implies control of a large part of that country's population. In the summer of 1969 a few charcoal kilns were still standing in the midst of the ruins of Old Nam Can. For a time, U. S. and French naval advisors worked together in a combined training mission called TRIM, but for all practical purposes the U. S. Navy had assumed primary responsibility for advising the Vietnamese Navy in the fall of 1955. It was the only uncut supply line of any consequence for allied military forces there. Naval Association of Canada - Association Navale du Canada In this instance, however, the sanctuary lay wholly within the territory of South Vietnam and scarcely 15 miles from the capital- This situation, spawned and tolerated by the fractured and at times intransigent Vietnamese command structure, had existed for a number of years. Search Turn was followed, on 16 November, by Operation Foul Deck (later renamed Tran Hung Dao), which placed naval patrols on the Rach Giang Thanh and Vinh Te Canal at the Cambodian border itself, and by Operation Giant Slingshot on 6 December, which extended the barrier patrols to the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay Rivers on either side of the notorious Parrots Beak. Not far from the landing area, the Special Forces uncovered a large cache of about 4,000 assorted rifles, submachine guns, BAR type weapons, several thousand cases of ammunition, and very large quantities of medical supplies. Provision for systematic screening of materials declared excess by all military commands. Vietnam: Naval Advisory Group Vietnam: Naval Forces Vietnam (NAVFORV) Lessons Learned and End of Tour Reports Vietnam: Navy Research and Development Unit (NRDUV) Vietnam Operational. Five Coastal Surveillance Centers (Da Nang, Qui Nhon, Nha Trang, Vung Tau, and An Thoi) were responsible for coordinating U. S. Navy and Vietnamese Navy patrol units. Contact with a generally elusive enemy was established on seven occasions. Numerous automatic weapons and mortars were emplaced, though the primary defense of the MATSB was considered to be the mobile firepower provided by the naval craft and the helicopter fire teams that would be supported there. The strength of the Vietnamese Navy at this time was about 1,900 officers and men. 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. Our operational boats would be the first to complete turnover. Most importantly, a favorable decision was taken on the establishment of a permanent Vietnamese naval base on the site of Old Nam Can. U.S. Navy advisors helped transform the Vietnam Navy from a small collection of landing craft and minesweepers to the world's fifth largest navy - a modern service of 42,000 sailors and 1,500 surface vessels capable of fighting not only on the rivers of Vietnam but also far out to sea. Task Force 115 consisted of seven DERs, two MSOs, two LSTs originally used to provide radar coverage of the Mekong River entrances, five SP-2H patrol aircraft based at Tan Son Nhut Airfield at Saigon, and Coast Guard Squadron One with nine WPBs based at An Thoi and eight at Da Nang. The men of both navies had adopted the Admiral's daily watchword and admonition to all concerned: "Go faster.". 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. In January 1964, a team of eight naval officers, headed by Captain Phillip H. Bucklew, met in Saigon to study the infiltration problem. Huge stockpiles accumulated just north of the border in Cambodia as the enemy waited for more propitious times to move them into South Vietnam. All U.S. Army units in South Vietnam, excluding advisory attachments, were assigned to the Army Support Group for administrative and logistical needs. The long-term effects the interdiction barriers seemed to have on the infiltration problem were these: The border interdiction barriers brought to the war, which the French had called la guerre sans fronts, a front of sorts. 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. Once U. S. involvement in the war terminated in 1973 it became clear a more useable arrangement of the records was necessary. The howitzers were towed along with the base, or positioned in advance of operations. PC 04 and LSM 405 immediately began a run to the beach, but at a range of about 500 yards encountered small arms and automatic weapons fire. In that event, the Military Assistance Advisory Group would be restored to its former position as the principal U.S. headquarters in South Vietnam. It was inevitable that a significant phase of the counter-insurgency war in Vietnam would be fought on water. On 25 February, an additional responsibility was assigned to maintain the lines of communication on the Cua Viet River, just south of the Demilitarized Zone. Estimates of the areas population have varied from 5,000 to 13,000. Finally, at 1100, on the third attempt, the Special Forces company was put ashore. Without that cooperation a measure of initiative always remained with the enemy, who had the choice of when and where to dispute the control and ownership of a particular stretch of navigable water. Advisory Team 143; Advisory Team 159; Advisory Team 57; Advisory Team 63; Advisory Team 86; Coastal Group 16; Coastal Group 32; Intermediate Support Base Cho Moi ; MLMS-161; NSA Detachment Vung Tau; River Patrol Goup 62 (RPG62) USMC Advisory Team 54; Vietnamese Naval Shipyard (VNNSY) 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. He could no longer approach or withdraw from the river with his old assurance. Robert Cameron. The motivation of the men concerned was expected to be high. When the operation ended on 18 May 1955, at the expiration of the 300-day regroupment period, more than 310,000 people, 8,000 vehicles, and 69,000 tons of cargo had been carried to the South by the U. S. Navy. Two of these are the subject and serial files of the immediate office of the Commander. By the summer of 1966, nearly 50 per cent of the senior officers of the Navy were either out of the country or assigned to non-Navy duties in the country.
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