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. Drawn carefully on a map, the Rung Sat Special Zone looks curiously like a human brain, its convolutions etched by numberless rivers and streams. 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. Concurrent with this announcement, Rear Admiral Norvell G. Ward, the first Navy flag officer to be assigned to Vietnam, was ordered to relieve Captain William H. Hardcastle, Jr., U. S. Navy, as Chief, Naval Advisory Group. Harkins became the senior U.S. military commander in South Vietnam and responsible for U.S. military policy, operations and assistance there. With an initial authorized strength of 216 men (113 Army), MACV was envisaged as a temporary HQ that would be withdrawn once the Viet Cong insurgency was brought under control. On 1 January 1966, the following recommendations were submitted: (1) That a Naval Force, Vietnam (NavForV), Command be established as the Naval Component Command in Vietnam under the operational command of CinCPacFlt,3 and operational control of ComUSMACV.4. On 27 April 1967, just as the Mobile Riverine Force was getting started, Rear Admiral Ward was relieved as ComNavForV (and as CNAG) by Rear Admiral Kenneth L. Veth. Until 1964 the Viet Cong were not equipped with standardized weapons and fought with a large variety of French, Russian, Chinese, and captured American arms. In April 1966, all Army communications-electronics resources in South Vietnam were combined in a single formation, the 1st Signal Brigade. 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. (2) That NavForV be commanded by a naval officer, and that this naval officer have additional duty as Chief, Naval Advisory Group. Vessels in the contiguous zone, extending 12 miles from the coast, suspected as infiltrators were also made subject to search and seizure. 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. 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. In June, Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations, cited an urgent need for the U. S. Navy to prepare to assume naval responsibilities in restricted waters and rivers. The military decisions that were taken at this time were not, nor could they be, based solely on our operational experience in the war. NSA Danang was under the operational control of Commander III Marine Amphibious Force. Called the United States Support Activities Group & 7th Air Force (USSAG/7th AF), it was located at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base in northeast Thailand. The 1st Signal Brigade operated the many elements of the Defense Communications System in South Vietnam. Minesweeping and Interdiction Division 93, Historical Information on the Vietnamese Navy. As a result, the 1st Logistics Command was established. Vigorous efforts had been made, beginning in 1966, to clear the area of the enemy to prevent the ambushing and mining of the ships in transit. In 1955 after the French defeat in Indochina the Navy Section became part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam. 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. With the eviction of Viet Cong "tax collectors" from the principal water routes, civilian traffic on the rivers noticeably increased. Naturally, stand-off weapons, frequently command-fired from concealed positions well inland, became more attractive to the enemy. 220th Aviation Company "Catkillers" Web Page 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. By the middle of August the number had increased to 159 per day and the average size of the sampans was larger as heavier cargoes, mostly of wood, were moved to market. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Wikipedia A most significant factor was the deplorable care, housing, and security of dependent families. "Vietnamization" proceeded at a steady pace. There were really two reasons. Vast numbers of people live on or near the rivers, canals, and seacoasts. For the most part the records of the latter organization contain documentation on U. S. Naval operations. NAVAL ADVISORY GROUP VIETNAM? - VetFriends They operate with them and they fight alongside them. There were no "spare" people on our boat crews. It is a fair question to ask ourselves why, after such a great and prolonged effort, we had not succeeded in accomplishing more. These units got underway each morning from Sea Float and returned each night. As is true for much of the Delta, waterways are vital routes to and from markets, and roads are virtually non-existent. As these records were no longer needed in Saigon they were shipped to the Operation Archives Branch of the Naval History Division (the NHHC Navy Archives). With relatively few exceptions, our sailors, Amend and Vietnamese, accepted the challenge and perform well in the months following the implementation the plan. 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. Other parts of the U. S. Navy family came to his assistance. Daily coastal surveillance flights by SP-2 aircraft, operating from Tan Son Nhut, had begun shortly after the conference of 3 March 1965. 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. Miscellaneous materials that could not be associated with any one office on the commanders staff also are indicated. At the conclusion of their meeting, recommendations were made to increase the number of off-shore patrol ships from 9 to 14, to double the patrol aircraft coverage, to increase the number of PCPs available for inshore work from 54 to 84 and the number of WPBs from 17 to 26. At this time the Government of Vietnam commanded little support within its own structure. Creation of a NavForV dependent shelter project team to coordinate allocation of materials and technical assistance. U. S. Navy DEs were withdrawn from the Gulf of Thailand on 26 May 1962, and the MSO patrol was suspended on 1 August. This proposal received strong backing from ComNavForV and from Commanding General, II Field Force Vietnam. 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. 1 The patrols along the seventeenth parallel, and near the Brevie Line in the Gulf of Thailand in late 1961 and 1962, in which U. S. Navy MSOs and des participated in a very limited way (using their radars to vector VNN ships to suspicious contacts), did not indicate large scale infiltration from the sea. In April the operation expanded rapidly. In the fall of 1968 our naval advisory effort in Vietnam was entering its nineteenth year. Waterborne transportation is relied upon almost exclusively in the rural areas for the movement of goods and crops to market, and for inter-village communications. [8]:270. "The Service Force, Pacific Fleet in Action, by Rear Admiral Edwin B. Hooper, U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1968. [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. By the fall of 1968, on the eve of the introduction of the U. S. naval command's Accelerated Turnover (ACTOV) Program, the personnel strength of the Vietnamese Navy was more than 17,500. That afternoon, additional caches were uncovered. The number of people then living under Vietnamese control in the area was estimated to be about 9,000. The River Patrol Force had 2032 men assigned and 197 of its authorized 250 PBRs. 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) A location on one of the two rivers mentioned above was considered ideal, since it would permit egress to the South China Sea in the east and to the Gulf of Thailand in the west. 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. As a result of his visit, Project Beef-up was launched, which, in addition to more men, money, and supplies for the Vietnamese military, called for increased U. S. operational participation in the war. Certain small increases had been made in the Sea Forces, however, and overall strength had grown to about 3,500 officers and men. 9 This canal is 50 to 100 feet wide, 15-20 feet deep, and 10 to 12 miles long. At the time, the Military Assistance Advisory Group was the only U.S. military headquarters in South Vietnam. 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. 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. 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. Dense foliage and thick swamps make detection of soldiers from the air and pursuit on the ground extremely difficult. A year later there were virtually no U. S. Navy combat craft in Vietnam With wholly American crews. "River Patrol Relearned, by Commander S. A. Swarztrauber, U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1970. "Combat patrols often consisted of short trips to and from anchorages. If more time should become available, the acceleration could be slowed and the training cycles could be lengthened. At one time charcoal preparation was an important source of the areas meager wealth. The combined operation, called Sea Float by the U. S. Navy and Tran Hung Dao III by the Vietnamese, began with the towing of the first Ammis up the river to the vicinity of Old Nam Can on 25 June 1969 by U. S. Navy YFUs. Designated as Task Force Oregon, it included the 196th Infantry Brigade; the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division at Chu Lai Base Area; and the 1st Brigade, 10lst Airborne Division. Late in September 1965, representatives of CNO, CinCPac, CinCPacFlt, ComUSMACV, and CNAG met in Saigon to review the progress of Market Time operations to that date. This ushered in nearly three years of turmoil in the senior Vietnamese Navy leadership. 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. Naval Forces, Vietnam Monthly Historical Summary for July 1969 Accession Number: ADA953992 Title: U.S. In keeping with the recommendations of the September conference, it was planned that the task force would initially consist of 120 specially designed river patrol boats (PBRs), 20 LCPLs, an LSD, an LST, and 8 UH-1B helicopters. 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. The Special Forces company commander reported that he couldnt hold the beachhead overnight and that with "very little arms and ammunition remaining, it was not worthwhile to land again. 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. Hard intelligence had repeatedly confirmed that the bulk of enemy war material for the III and IV Corps areas entered Cambodia from the sea, in Communist Chinese and Eastern Bloc ships, primarily through the port of Sihanoukville. Compensation would be paid by the Government of South Vietnam if they proved to be foreign ships. 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. These statistics could of course be interpreted two ways; either there was little sea infiltration, or the counter-infiltration effort was remarkably ineffective. Advisors reported that even these statistics did not reflect the true situation, since units were frequently only "administratively employed. Under the terms of the Geneva agreement, a military demarcation line was established near the seventeenth parallel 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. 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 Senior Advisor in the RSSZ at this time was Commander C. J. Operation Sea Float. The original MACV Headquarters were colocated with MAAG at 606 Trn Hng o, Cholon. It was decided, therefore, to shift to a standard family of small arms, using the same caliber of ammunition, and provide more modern supporting weapons. It was hoped that this move would increase the morale and the performance of the force. They had been . The latter unit formed the naval component of the joint Army-Navy Mobile Riverine Force. The struggle to improve the living standards of the Vietnamese sailor proved to be one of the most critical tasks associated with the ACTOV program, for as the turnover progressed, and the day approached when sizable Vietnamese Navy populations would take up duties at scattered bases throughout the Republic, it was clear that the already intolerable situation of dependents' care and housing would grow immeasurably worse, unless firm action were taken at once. It was obvious, however, that what Naval Forces Vietnam and the Vietnamese Navy actually faced was a gigantic boot-strap operation which had to be carried out concurrently with the prosecution of the war. The men at Cua Viet lived little better than moles in heavily bunkered huts burrowed down among the sand dunes. On their return from market they brought potable water, rice, cloth, beer, and other staples. In that event, the Military Assistance Advisory Group would be restored to its former position as the principal U.S. headquarters in South Vietnam. Huge construction projects were started at Cam Ranh Bay, Da Nang, and elsewhere. "Building the Advanced Base at Da Nang, by Captain K. P. Huff, U. S. Naval Reserve, in Naval Review 1968. The same night the Vietnamese PC 04 with 15 LDNN and the U. S. SEAL Advisor, Lieutenant Franklin W. Anderson, aboard, arrived to join the growing forces at Vung Ro. The two navies together operated more than 300 amphibious ships and craft, 75 patrol vessels and minesweepers, two cruisers, and two aircraft carriers. The new complex soon earned the nickname "Pentagon East. Naval Advisory Group Vietnam - Marine Unit Directory - Together We Served 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. Many of the records were used to prepare a monthly Historical Summary of naval activities in Vietnam. 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 leadership of our Navy for many years to come will be drawn largely from the ranks of those whose courage and sense of responsibility were fire-hardened on the rivers of Vietnam. 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. Naval Support Activity Saigon or NSA Saigon was a United States Navy logistics support organization located in Saigon, South Vietnam active from May 1966 to June 1972. Furthermore, a large percentage of the Vietnamese Navy was recruited from relatively well-to-do city populations who preferred the smaller risks of that service to those offered by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). 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. Training activities ashore suffered from a lack of facilities and a lack of instructors. The successor to the murdered Captain Quyen as Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnamese Navy was Captain Chung Tan Cang. At about this same time public statements by Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford signaled the changing U. S. policy on the war. [3]:601 It supported the combat signal battalions of the divisions and field forces in each corps area. These messages have been further broken down by subject (i.e., Coastal Patrol, River Patrol, Intelligence, etc.). [2]:59, MACV was disestablished on 29 March 1973 and replaced by the Defense Attach Office (DAO), Saigon. These in turn were tied in with the U. S. Task Force 115 operations through the various Coastal Surveillance Centers. It spread its roots through virtually every sector of Vietnamese society. It was believed to consist of either nine or ten elements (Doi) of between 30 and 55 men each. 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. 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). Washington: GPO, 1986. [6]:45, Major component commands of MACV were:[2]:60. 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.
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