Coastal Warfare Against the Vietcong , livre ebook

Xlibris US - James Steffes

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

136 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

This book documents and tells the history of the establishment and growth of the Coastal Surveillance Force, Task Force 71. This grew to Task Forces 115, 116 and 117. My research for this history came from veterans serving in this period and the documentation of the Commander Naval Forces Vietnam Monthly Summaries. These documents did not exist before January 1966, so the early period was dependent on veterans and the author's personal knowledge. This book is dedicated to those pioneers of the Small Boat Navy's very successful war against a stubborn enemy. It is important to point out that this is a book of fiction and all of the names of the characters are fictional. This was used to make the significant incidents more alive while retaining the accurate details of the action. Much of the COMNAVFORV summaries were also paraphrased for effect while retaining the factual accounts stated in the records. The photographs and map images are placed at the end of the chapters in the book to help former military and non-military folks identify with the many units and terms used in the texts. The images and photographs are either my personal items or from the COMNAVFORCESVIETNAM Monthly Summaries.

Sujets

Histoire

Vietnam

Military

Viêt Nam

History

War

Informations

Publié par	Xlibris US
Date de parution	17 janvier 2023
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781669862253
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

COASTAL WARFARE AGAINST THE VIETCONG

Volume One 1964-1966

James Steffes
A Fiction Novel Based on Facts by the Author of Swift Boat Down

Copyright © 2023 by James Steffes.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2023900334
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-6227-7

Softcover
978-1-6698-6226-0

eBook
978-1-6698-6225-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 01/16/2023

Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
848592
CONTENTS
Disclaimer
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Stable Door Statistics for the Month of December
Epilogue and Summary
Glossary of Terms
DISCLAIMER
All images included have been used with permission of the Naval History and Heritage Command Website and are part of the public domain.
Visit their website at
http://www.history.navy.mil/

M y previous book entitled Operation Market Time: The Early Years, 1965–66 was an attempt to tell this story as fiction based on fact. It had many things wrong with it, and when I saw the story had much of its original content more in line with historical fiction, I attempted to make corrections to improve the manuscript but was advised by my publisher to rework the manuscript to better reflect the historical fiction theme.The new books will be in three volumes: Volume One covers 19641966, Volume Two covers 1967, and Volume Three covers 1968. By the end of 1968, Operation Market Time had fulfilled its mission of denying the waters along the coastline to the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese.
January 1, 1969, began with Swift Boats and Coast Guard WPBs taking over the mission of patrolling the lower Co Chein, Ham Long, and Soi Rap Rivers, freeing up the Game Warden River Patrol Boats to move up the river in pursuit of the Viet Cong. These three and one half day patrols, in addition to boarding and searching the hundreds of water taxis, fishing boats, and other watercraft, both large and small, were augmented by raids into the many canals and small rivers off the main rivers. Also, search and destroy missions were performed with the other boats in the river using RF or Regional Forces, and PF or Popular Forces under the guidance of U.S. Army dvisers. Landing Ship Tank vessels were used as mother ships stationed further south along the coastline to support Swift Boats and Coast Guard WPBs as they moved up into the Bassac River and the smaller rivers and canals of the lower Mekong Delta. These were not patrols, but rather lightening raids using several Swifts and supported by air cover and gunnery support from out at sea. These raids sometimes resulted in ambushes and these crews took many casualties, both in men and material. These heroic boat crews took the fight to the Viet Cong in his backyard and opened up these areas to allow the civilian population to move freely and safely. The enemy had its infrastructure and supply links disrupted and destroyed.
This period, 19691971, has been well documented in books and publications by authors who were there and experienced this firsthand. This author served aboard these boats in Market Time, from June 1968 to January 1969, then he transferred to a base near the Mekong Delta called Cat Lo. There he was part of the Sea Lords Campaign, and he patrolled in the lower rivers. In a sense, he experienced both facets of the war fought in these small boats at sea against the enemy and the weather, and then in the rivers and close in combat of smaller canals and waterways.
This book documents and tells the history of the establishment and growth of the Coastal Surveillance Force, Task Force 71. This grew to Task Forces 115, 116, and 117. My research for this history came from veterans serving in this period, the experiences of this author, and the documentation of the Commander Naval Forces Vietnam (COMNAVFORV) Monthly Summaries. These documents did not exist before January 1966, so the early period was dependent on veterans and the author’s personal knowledge.
This book is dedicated to those pioneers of the Small Boat Navy’s very successful war against a stubborn enemy. It is important to point out that this is a book of fiction, and the names of the characters are fictional. This was used to make the significant incidents more alive while retaining the accurate details of the action. Much of the COMNAVFORV summaries were also paraphrased for effect while retaining the factual accounts stated in the records. The photographs and map images are placed around the book to help former military and nonmilitary folks identify with the many units and terms used in the text. The images and photographs are either my personal items or from the COMNAVFORV Monthly Summaries.
CHAPTER ONE
I t was late 1964 at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, California, at the newly formed training school for sailors bound for in-country assignments. “But this is a ground war,” we were told, and the enemy has no navy or air force. It was a rag-tag guerilla army primarily engaged in sabotage and hit-and-run tactics against the forces of South Vietnam.
Lieutenant Junior Grade Sidney Watson was the Damage Control Assistant aboard USS Clementson (DD-765) homeported in Long Beach, California. The call to the Ship’s Office while operating off the California coastline came as a surprise. Mr. Watson entered the office with hat in hand, not knowing what to expect.
“Mr. Watson, you have orders to Vietnam,” said the personnel officer.
“Me?” he asked. “How can this be?”
“Well, apparently, in Officer Candidate School, you volunteered for combat duty on your dream sheet. Here they are in black and white,” he said, handing the papers over to the young lieutenant.
“I never heard back on that, so I figured it was a mute issue,” said Watson. “After all, that is why they called it a “dream sheet.”
Sure enough, they read “Transfer to Naval Amphibious Training Command, Coronado, California, for eight weeks of training and further transfer to Naval Advisory Group, Naval Support Activity, Sai Gon, in the Republic of Vietnam.” The thoughts that ran through Mr. Watson’s head were of excitement and also dread. The war was in its infancy. Not many troops were there yet, but the word was out. The war was here, and it was the place to be for opportunities and advancement. After all, he was single and did not have many worries at all. The orders gave him until the end of the month to depart Clementson, and with two weeks leave, he would report aboard in November for school. What kind of assignment would this be? he wondered as he walked back to his stateroom, orders in hand. He remembered volunteering while at Officer Candidate School, but got USS Clementson instead. On his way back to his stateroom, he stopped at the executive officer’s cabin and knocked on the door.
“Come in, Mr. Watson, and take a seat.” The XO was a kind man, with many years at sea behind those eyes, and his door was always open. “How can I help you?” he asked as the young officer sat down.
“It’s about these orders, Commander. What can you tell me about them?”
The XO began to explain, “I received a message a month or so ago asking for a motivated junior officer to take on a new assignment. I sent in your name with a good recommendation. You were selected from a large group to be in this class to be sent to be advisors to the South Vietnamese Navy.”
“What do I know about advising someone in a foreign navy?” he asked.
“Well, the war is building up rapidly since the USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy were attacked off the coast of North Vietnam. The government of South Vietnam formally asked for our help in repelling what is certainly an insurgency supplied and trained by the government in the North. Our military is supplying the South with arms and equipment, air support, and now advisors to work with the South Vietnamese Navy and our forces. It is more of an intermediary than an advisor, per se, but I believe you are the man for this job.”
Back in the wardroom, news traveled fast, and his fellow officers expressed their congratulations on his new station. He went to his stateroom and pondered this new turn in his life.
LTJG Sidney Watson was a native of Waterloo, Iowa, and went to Iowa State University before entering the navy. After OCS, or Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned as an Ensign. From there, he went to engineering school for officers en route to USS Clementson , where he served until this time as the Damage Control Assistant.
As he stared at the orders, he began to look forward to this assignment. It would be dangerous, of course, he thought, but life in the Navy aboard shi