Operation Market Time: the U.S. Coast Guard in Vietnam

[Music] it is august 4th and august 4th is the birthday of the nation's oldest sea going service on october 4th 1790 at the suggestion of treasury secretary alexander hamilton congress approved the construction of 10 cutters to enforce the customs law those original 10 revenue cutters were the four bearers of what today we call the united states coast guard eight years before the permanent establishment of the united states navy but we don't know much about the service of those original ten cutters because their records were lost when the british burned washington dc in 1814 and that seems to be completely fitting because the history of the coast guard often seems to be lost when compared to the other services like for example their newly forgotten service in the vietnam war where they engaged in among other things the largest naval surface engagement of that war it is history that deserves to be remembered in february 1965 a u.s army lieutenant flying a medical evacuation helicopter noticed something strange along the coast of south vietnam's monroe bay the website defense media network explains as he banked over monroe he sensed something wrong with a tree-covered island below when he flew closer he discovered that the island was in fact a small ship cleverly camouflaged with potted plants on its deck and superstructure what he had seen was an approximately 130 foot boat of the type typically called a trawler camouflaged with branches and apparently unloading cargo perpendicular to the shore the pilot radioed the sighting end and a1 skyraiders of the republic of vietnam air force attacked and capsized the vessel later that day republic of vietnam troops accompanied by a u.s navy advisor landed and inspected the site the website world history project describes what they found the allies recovered from the 130-foot north vietnamese ship and from shore sites 100 tons of soviet and chinese-made war material including 3 500 to 4 000 rifles and submachine guns 1 million rounds of small arms ammunition 1500 grenades 2 000 mortar rounds and 500 pounds of explosives what became known as the moon road bay incident confirmed two military planners what some had long suspected north vietnamese and vietcong forces in south vietnam were being supplied by sea a 1975 report by the center for naval analysis noted north vietnam had been organized to direct infiltration into south vietnam since 1959. during that year vietcong needs for out of country resupply in south vietnam began to increase possible infiltration routes were from the ho chi minh trail cambodia and the sea seabourn infiltration was recognized as a possible means of resupply as early as 1961. cargo that took 170 days overland to reach the vc nva in south vietnam reach them in a few days by sea with far less manpower expended the confirmation was important in transforming the american role in vietnam the defense media network continues in addition troops discovered numerous north vietnamese charts and assertive military papers among them were documents revealing that members of the north vietnamese army's 338th division were stationed in the region that the trawler had been constructed in communist china was unit k-35 of the north vietnamese naval transportation group 125. the incident and other events helped transform the largely advisory american presence of military assistance and advisory group vietnam to the active american combat force effort military assistance command vietnam one result was the creation of operation market time the spring 1998 edition of the naval war college review notes on 16 march 1965 general william westmoreland commander of the us military assistance command vietnam approved a recommendation that u.s and south vietnamese naval forces operate together against coastal infiltration in operation market time market time's mission was to conduct surveillance and interdiction along the coast of south vietnam watching in particular for junks carrying weapons or supplies to the enemy the website vietnam war 50th writes in march 1965 the coastal surveillance force was established and began operation market time so named after the native boats using the waterways for fishing and marketing this task force provided a single command to integrate sea air and land-based units and coordinate u.s navy and south vietnamese naval units but the website continues while the us navy recognized the need for an effective security and surveillance system and also knew that this would be a difficult task with 1200 miles of coastline to patrol and over 60 thousand junks and sandpans to control the center for naval analysis report explains the tactics used trawlers under the control of north vietnam naval transportation group 125 would either infiltrate directly over a beach or offload onto sand pins and junks several miles offshore these small craft would mingle with the thousands of similar boats used for fishing and transportation along the coast south vietnam defense media network describes the rationale for the operation prior to 1965 seabourn infiltration of material from north vietnam was conducted at will by the communists intelligence estimates stated that during this period as much as 90 of all arms and supplies to the viet cong came from the sea the task confronting the market time forces was daunting in the extreme commerce and travel were conducted primarily over water on the thousands of miles of rivers canals and sea coast on average more than 60 000 sand pans and junks alone traveled and fished the seas and waterways vietnam war 50th concludes soon the navy recognized the need for coast guard units to support this mission the website of the united states coast guard recalls on april 29 1965 president lyndon johnson signed a memorandum for the president that required u.s coast guard operating forces assist u.s naval forces in preventing sea infiltration by the communists into south vietnam and stated that the u.s coast guard has operating forces which are well suited to the mission the naval war college review notes that the navy needed a craft suitable for this type of operation one with high speed shallow draft radar and communication capabilities and the coast guard offered unique skills given the task defense media network explains because of their experience in customs inspections coast guardsmen assigned to market time came with extensive practical knowledge in what was required according to the coast guard website the same day president johnson signed his memorandum the service announced formation of coast guard squadron 1 or ron 1 in vietnam the squadron of 26 point class 82 foot patrol boats were the first u.s shallow water units to patrol south vietnam's coastal waters the 82-foot 10-inch point-class vessels began construction in 1960 intending to replace the aging foot cape class cutters 17 foot 7 inches at the beam with a draft of 5 feet 11 inches the hull was made of mild steel and the superstructure aluminum notably given the climate of vietnam point class vessels were designed with air-conditioned interiors built with an eye towards manpower costs they were deliberately designed to reduce the 15-person crew of the cape class vessels in fact the point class could operate with just four people although the normal complement was eight to allow boarding parties in vietnam service two officers were added to the crew and accommodations made for 13. in addition the vessels headed to vietnam were upgraded with better communications equipment deck lights additional 50 caliber machine guns and an 81 millimeter trigger-fired mortar the naval war college review explains the machine guns provided a high rate of fire in case of an attack at close range while the mortar was useful for destroying trawlers firing illuminating star shells and providing some short bombardment initially 17 and eventually 26 point class cutters were assigned to the navy and placed into coast guard squadron 1 or ron juan after modification the cutters were placed on transports to the philippines while the crews underwent additional training including small arms trending survival resistance evasion and escape training and mountain warfare training the squadron was commissioned may 27th and began patrols in july the cutters were extremely busy the coast guard website notes in five years ron won patrol boats would cruise over 4 million miles and expect over 280 000 vessels the 82 footers which were designed for search and rescue in law enforcement were operational approximately 80 percent of their time in the war zone the naval war college review explains the navy expected coast guard vessels to be on patrol two-thirds of the time higher demand on both the men and equipment than was required during peace time in the united states to meet this demand the coast guard assigned three different crews to each craft producing a constant rotation of sailors the task was difficult the naval war college review continues for the men of the coast guard each boarding involved attention to avoid booby traps and surprise attacks crew members of craft under inspection required to open everything forced to remain on constant alert for anything suspicious coast guard's personnel needed nonetheless to avoid being trigger-happy often they had to make split-second decisions and they showed a great deal of restraint in a complete search of a boat coast guard personnel used a probe a metal detector and an angled mirror to help find enemy contraband but the manual method was the most effective this however meant moving large amounts of cargo or sifting by hand through holes full of fish a physically exhausting and in no way glamorous job to add to the stress of boarding the crews of vessels that did not have enemy contraband were often openly hostile at having their boats ransacked coast guard crews gave candy fresh fruit or sea rations to compensate for this inconvenience the action could be hot with several boats coming under small arms fire and machine gun fire in august 1966 the cutter point welcome was mistaken for an enemy vessel and came under air attack the commanding officer lieutenant junior great david brostrom and crewman petty officer second class jerry phillips were killed and eight members of the crew were wounded with the communications equipment disabled the commander killed an executive officer seriously wounded chief bosun's mate richard patterson took control the vessel and grounded it to save the crew for his actions patterson was awarded the bronze star with combat v in 1967 navy requested more support this time asking for larger vessels to augment the radar picket chips that operated farther from shore world war ii era coast guard high endurance cutters of the casco and oasco class were much bigger than the point class cutters and their 5-inch gun 240 millimeter guns could provide gunfire support these larger vessels could also provide medical assistance and resupply for the smaller vessels of operation market time five high-end dunes cutters were assigned to coast guard squadron three cutters of four different classes rotated deployments the end of february 1968 coast guardsmen of both squadrons would take part in the largest naval battle of the war according to the march 1968 monthly historical summary for the commander of naval forces vietnam a naval trawler was spotted by united states navy sp2h neptune aircraft on february 28th by morning three more trawlers were discovered across the coast of south vietnam the naval war college review explains four enemy trawlers attempted to infiltrate different points of the south vietnamese coast simultaneously as part of the tet offensive which had begun a month earlier trying to take large trawlers ashore the face of operation market time surveillance was a risky move the center for naval analysis report notes that the north vietnamese attempt to land four trawlers simultaneously in february 1968 after the tet offensive was the best example that the enemy was responding to a crisis by attempting to resupply his forces rapidly from the sea the trawlers were not defenseless mounting 57 millimeter recoilless rifles and machine guns one trawler was spotted by the high endurance cutter androscoggin and was intercepted by the point class cutters point welcome at point grey as well as navy swift boats and an army helicopter gunship the defense media network notes warning shots from the androscoggin were answered by return fire from the trawler and the nighttime engagement commenced the naval war college review describes the fight the u.s forces waited until the enemy was six miles from the coast when the andros gagan challenged and illuminated the contact the large trawler laid a screen of smoke and tried to evade interception supported by a helicopter gunship the androscoggin opened fire when the trawler continued towards the coast the other coast guard cutters and navy swiss joined the attack the defense media network concludes the trawler captain managed to beat his ship and at 2 35 a huge fireball erupted from the enemy ship as it destroyed itself gerald mcgill the then 24 year old commander of the point welcome was quoted in the july 2020 edition of military history now the trawler exploded sending still shrapnel into the air so thick that i later learned that point welcome's radar signal disappeared from the androscoggins radar screen and they thought we were lost at least two of the travis crew were killed in the explosion and the third was wounded the two cutters were showered with debris from the explosions and as a miracle we suffered no personnel casualties the point welcomed supported windows were completely blown out we eventually realized that the port and aft windows were actually blown out from the inside by shrapnel passing through the bridge a second trawler attempted to land off the kamau peninsula at the southmost tip of vietnam it was intercepted by the high endurance cutter winona and point class cutters point grace point marin and point hudson along with navy swift boats the naval war college review reports that the winona attempted to capture the enemy vessel intact the trawler opened fire a short battle followed the defense media network continues the us forces poured heavy gunfire into the trawler that soon burst into flames and then spectacularly exploded a third trailer was observed by the high endurance cutter minitonka retreated back to chinese waters a fourth trawler was destroyed by fire from south vietnamese navy vessels navy swift boats and a c-47 gunship the monthly historical reports notes that five 81-millimeter mortar rounds from the swift boat pcf-47 were direct hits and the trailer exploded with a massive explosion due to the munitions on board the trawlers were found to have carried a significant amount of military supplies the defense media network salvaged from just one of the vessels ultimately salvage operations conducted by the allies succeeded in removing tons of supplies including seven 82-millimeter mortar tubes with 745 rounds of ammunition 70 ak-47 automatic rifles 39 rpg 2 rocket launchers with 81 cases of rocket rounds and 28 cases of 7.62 millimeter ammunition the naval war college review noted that the destruction of three vessels and turning back of another illustrated both the capacity of and the necessity for the navy and coast guard to work together navy planes and large ships made the initial contact with the enemy miles from shore while smaller craft and helicopters attacked when the trawlers or small junks tried to reach the shore certainly the victory had a significant effect on attempts by the north to resupply by sea the center for naval analysis report noted that after the unsuccessful four troller effort in march 1968 no trawler infiltration attempt was detected by market time for a year and a half the actions of march 1 1968 demonstrated the overwhelming success of operation market time which by all accounts significantly impaired the north vietnamese forces by forcing them to use the overland ho chi minh trail for supply general westmoreland said of the work of the coast guard market time forces have successfully blocked intrusions by sea forcing the enemy to use the long torches ho chi minh trail thus affecting significantly his ability to properly sustain his forces in the south in addition to operation market time coast guardsmen in vietnam served as buoy tenders operated long-range aids to navigation or lorann stations served as merchant marine inspectors and coast guard aviators through both helicopters and aircraft as part of a coast guard air force aviator exchange program coast guardsmen also fulfilled humanitarian roles often providing medical assistance and food to boats they boarded the naval wards college review notes that each coast guard cutter adopted a south vietnamese village by doing this the coast guard aimed to improve its men's morale by giving the victims of the war names and faces they provided medical treatment care packages daily necessities and personal gifts as the review notes historically this has been a coast guard function to aid and support others in times of need in 1970 the point class vessels of ron 1 were turned over to the navy of the republic of vietnam as part of the process of vietnamization even though coast guardsmen stayed in the country until 1972 to serve as advisors and assist in the operation of equipment that had been turned over the u.s coast guard contribution in vietnam was important it had a significant impact on the prosecution of the war it was dangerous grueling thankless work one coast guardsmen described life on patrol as endless days of utter boredom interrupted by sudden moments of terror and violence i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 120,069

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, vietnam war, US Coast Guard, us history, us military history

Id: VQw0UJ62-EA

Length: 18min 2sec (1082 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 04 2021