It is probably correct to state that few, if any, of those recruited desired to serve in the Junk Force. What had been conceived and organized as an advisers job, no longer fit the changing nature of growing operational command. In the IV Corps Tactical Zone, the Mobile Riverine Force was the only friendly force that retained the ability to mount sustained and effective counter-offensive operations. When the III Marine Amphibious Force moved to Da Nang on 6 May 1965, its commanding general, Major General William R. Collins, was designated MACV's naval component commander. 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. After Dien Bien Phu there was simply no French stomach left to continue the struggle, and, on 20 July 1954, a cease-fire agreement was signed at Geneva. The Coastal Surveillance Force (it had moved its headquarters to Cam Ranh Bay in July 1967) employed 1051 officers and men, exclusive of those attached to Seventh Fleet units temporarily assigned to the task force. (5) That ComNavForV be responsible to ComUSMACV for logistic support of all naval forces, including III MAF in I Corps. After 30 years and learning the computer and finding VetFriends, I went to my first reunion of the USS Navasota AO-106. Only 11 were confirmed Viet Cong. The Naval Shipyard struggled along with barely sixty per cent of its authorized work force, and skilled labor could not be attracted or held because of wage scales that were chronically below the market level. 3 Operational Command is the authority to assign missions or forces. "River Patrol Relearned, by Commander S. A. Swarztrauber, U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1970. NSA Danang was under the operational control of Commander III Marine Amphibious Force. The impact these naval patrols had on the enemy infiltration effort was soon measured in terms of heavy fire fight activity, the seizure of large arms caches, and reports of enemy war material backing up in the north. The enormity of this undertaking could not be measured solely in terms of the numbers of the Vietnamese naval personnel it would be necessary to recruit and train. The Vietnamese Navy and the advisory effort had expanded sharply. Dept. 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. The two navies together operated more than 300 amphibious ships and craft, 75 patrol vessels and minesweepers, two cruisers, and two aircraft carriers. Ultimately, only the rivers and memories will remain. Provision for systematic screening of materials declared excess by all military commands. The American sailors were gradually being sent home. Naval Academy, The Sullivan Brothers and the Assignment of Family Members, Historic Former U.S. Navy Bases and Stations, The African American Experience in the U.S. Navy, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. Navy, Contributions of Native Americans to the U.S. Navy, The World Cruise of the Great White Fleet, Navy Underwater Archaeology Return Program, Annual Navy History and Heritage Awards - Main, Research Permits for Sunken & Terrestrial Military Craft, Scanning, Copyright & Citation Information, Obtain Duplications of Records and Photos, Assistant SECNAV Installations and Environment, Bainbridge Recruit Training Center Scrapbooks, Bethesda National Naval Medical Center Rapid Implementation Team, Immediate Office Files 1946 to the Present, CNO Oceanographer of the Navy Operation Deep Freeze, CNO Organization of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, CNO Organizational Research and Policy Division, CNO Shore and Fleet Organization Branch (SNDL) Records, CNO Undersea and Submarine Warfare Division, Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center, Historical Documentation Team Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Military Sealift Command in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Military Sealift Command Transportation Directorate, USS Constitution and OPSAIL 200 Historical Materials, Vietnam: Chief of Naval Operations Flag Plot Office, Vietnam: Commander Naval Forces Vietnam (COMNAVFORV), Vietnam: Naval Forces Vietnam (NAVFORV) Lessons Learned and End of Tour Reports, Vietnam: Navy Research and Development Unit (NRDUV), Vietnam Operational History Section Subject Files, Yorktown Mine Warfare Engineering Activity. This leaves a tremendous gap for the student of the navy in Vietnam for the . The MSOs were not themselves permitted to intercept suspect shipping, but used their radar to vector Vietnamese naval units to suspicious contacts. 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. At one time charcoal preparation was an important source of the areas meager wealth. 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. In addition to the Market Time raiders, the following forces were employed: SEALS, UDT/EOD teams, Mobile Strike Force and RF/PF troops, Coastal Group junks, tactical strike aircraft supplied as needed by the U. S. Army, Navy, or Air Force, and helicopter gunships. They are attached to nearly every Vietnamese naval unit. By Commander R. L. Schreadley, U. S. Navy, CNO Naval History - Midshipmen and Cadets, CNO Naval History - Professional Historian. *The appendices are missing from the files as of October 2020. [6]:45, Major component commands of MACV were:[2]:60. It was unmistakably evident that great amounts of supplies for the Communists had been brought into Vietnam to support and fuel the offensive. The irregulars were ordinarily recruited from the population in the vicinity of each coastal group. 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. . 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. 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. It Was decided the boats would be based at Qui Nhon, Cain Ranh Bay, and Vung Tau. All of these programs hoped to bring about permanent and self-sustaining projects, which would survive the eventual conclusion of the Vietnamization process. Harkins had the task of advising the South Vietnamese government on security, organization, and employment of their military and paramilitary forces. 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. The NAVFORV and Naval Advisory Group records fall into several main series. On their return from market they brought potable water, rice, cloth, beer, and other staples. When President Diem was overthrown, Captain Quyen, who was closely associated with the fallen President, and who had been instrumental in defeating several previously attempted coups, was himself murdered by a subordinate officer sympathetic to the incoming regime. One of the hidden, but nevertheless real costs of the war lies in the Fleet ships that, because our resources were diverted elsewhere, were not built as replacements for those long overdue for honorable retirement. The Special Forces company commander displayed great reluctance to use his men to assist in moving the remaining cache material to the beach and refused to order an end to the looting of medical supplies, which took place on a large scale. The ship was observed to be of the trawler type, about 130 feet long and displacing perhaps 100 tons. Overall command of the navies was exercised by Commander French Naval Forces Far East, who was himself directly subordinate to the theater commander, Commander in Chief, Armed Forces Indochina. [2]:59, MACV was disestablished on 29 March 1973 and replaced by the Defense Attach Office (DAO), Saigon. Fish from the rivers and seas are an important staple in the Vietnamese diet. Shortly before the referendum, Diem informed the U. S. Government that he had decided to ask the French to withdraw the Expeditionary Force by March 1956, explaining that he considered the continued presence of French troops in the south to be "one of the principal Communist assets.. Significant improvement in the existing structure and performance of the Vietnamese Navy would also be required. Dense foliage and thick swamps make detection of soldiers from the air and pursuit on the ground extremely difficult. Captain R. S. Salzer, U. S. Navy, was the first officer to function as "First Sea Lord," and upon his detachment the post was assumed by Rear Admiral W. H. House, Deputy ComNavForV. There were 39 smaller craft assigned to support the harbor defense operation, which was code-named Stable Door, under CTF 115. NAG - Naval Advisory Group. By the spring of 1970 it was believed that appropriated funds could be found to finance 10,500 of these. "Application of Doctrine; Victory at Van Tuong Village, by Brigadier General O. F. Peatross, U. S. Marine Corps, in Naval Review 1967. Vietnamese flags fluttered from the tops of tall cay go poles in each hamlet, and from crude flagstaffs on virtually all water craft, and from the fronts of most of the peoples hootches or shelters. 2 The Stevie Line is the geographic division in the Gulf of Thailand between Vietnam and Cambodia. The Vietnamese supply system seemingly could not or would not work, though many studies had demonstrated its theoretical excellence. 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. By 1 April 1970, 242 craft, worth more than $68 million, had been turned over under the ACTOV program. 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. 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. "Vietnamization" proceeded at a steady pace. A second category, which makes up approximately half the bulk of the records, is messages. Digital Proceedings content made possible by a gift from CAPT Roger Ekman, USN (Ret.). The Junk Force was seriously undermanned, with some Coastal Groups reduced to little more than 50 per cent of authorized strength. Access: Open but with some access limitations. In 1955 after the French defeat in Indochina the Navy Section became part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam. A Naval Advisory Group was established and the Commanding General, 2nd Air Division, became MACV's Air Force component commander. The situation inside South Vietnam was becoming critical, and a rapid buildup of our military strength seemed imperative to keep the Government from going under. Permission to conduct these operations was granted. Interim Game Warden bases were established at Nha Be and at Cat Lo. [2]:59. These are netted in cleverly designed fish traps which are located strategically in the waterways to make best use of the currents and backwaters. Day and night, hundreds of thousands of porters and young volunteers crossed passes and forded rivers in spite of enemy planes and delayed-action bombs. The concept of the proposed river patrol operations was that they would not be a part of Market Time, but would be directed by the same officer, the Chief, Naval Advisory Group. 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. Two of these are the subject and serial files of the immediate office of the Commander. Young trees are cut into long, straight poles, stripped of their bark, and sold for construction purposes. U.S. Seemingly from nowhere, skilled masons appeared and began the painstaking reconstruction of the areas once ubiquitous beehive charcoal kilns. In October, ComUSMACV directed that a program be developed for an accelerated turnover of U. S. equipment, while the war continued, in order to make the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF) as self-sufficient as possible. In January 1964, a team of eight naval officers, headed by Captain Phillip H. Bucklew, met in Saigon to study the infiltration problem. Because of this expansion, the commanding general, General Joseph Warren Stilwell Jr. late in 1963 proposed that the name of the support group be changed to U.S. Army Support Command, Vietnam. Now fully operational, the Riverine Assault Force began a long series of actions with the 9th Infantry Division embarked. Historically, woodcutting has been the principal economic activity of the Nam Can, with fishing ranking a distant second. He initially tried to obtain a site between the ARVN Joint General Staff compound and Tan Son Nhut Airport, desirable from the standpoint of removing Americans from central Saigon and placing MACV conveniently close to its Vietnamese counterpart. At about this same time public statements by Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford signaled the changing U. S. policy on the war. [11]:52 The DAO was activated on 28 January 1973 with United States Army Major General John E. Murray, formerly MACV director of logistics, as the Defense Attach and United States Air Force Brigadier General Ralph J. Maglione, formerly the MACV J-1 (Director for Manpower and Personnel), as deputy Defense Attach. 8 A large shipment was considered to be 15-20 sampan lots. This peculiar command structure was not destined to last, however. Few of these attacks managed to score hits, much less cause serious damage, but the enemy probably reaped considerable propaganda benefit from them and in the world press was credited with more strength than he actually possessed. 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. Until March 1965. These and subsequent operations in the Nam Can during the first half of 1969 relied heavily on offshore support ships (primarily LSTs and ARLs), which, because of very shallow water, had to anchor about five miles off the Ca Mau peninsula. LSM 405 landed a company of Vietnamese Army troops at 1830 to assist with the handling of this material, but an hour later, in spite of heated argument by the American advisors, both companies were embarked in LSM 405, although large quantities of arms and munitions remained on the beach. It was believed to consist of either nine or ten elements (Doi) of between 30 and 55 men each. These were given the nicknames Friendship and Platypus. In the morning, shortly after 0800, all three ships moved into Vung Ro Bay, preceded by heavy air strikes and naval gunfire support. The LSM anchored offshore for the night, and the requested air services again mysteriously failed to appear. "The Case for Inshore Warfare, by Commander W. F. Searle, Jr., U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1966. The Coastal Surveillance Force enjoyed its finest hour as it thwarted a desperate attempt by the Communists to resupply the offensive by the simultaneous infiltration of four steel-hulled vessels of the fishing trawler type laden with arms. An old Vietnamese woodcutter, captured and abused by the Viet Cong, escaped to tell Vietnamese interrogators that his captors had boasted that they would "visit" Sea Float someday. There was a general reluctance within the Sea Forces to maintain active patrols. [3]:41 That year the U.S. strength in Vietnam grew from about 16,000 men (10,716 Army) to about 23,300 (16,000 Army) in 1964. Many of those ships were tired relics of our great merchant fleet of World War II, soon to be consigned to the scrap heap. Efforts at population and resources control should concentrate, they argued, in areas where the population was heavier and the resources greater than they were in the uninviting barrens of the Nam Can. The holding ground was good and the moor was successful. One of this officers very first acts was to remove French officers from the Vietnamese Navy and Marine Corps Headquarters. At this time a message was received, its origin unclear, which postponed the scheduled landing. The causes of the under-manning in the Junk Force centered upon poor pay and living conditions, widespread desertion, and to an extent, the pay list manipulations referred to above. 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. Significantly, this marked the formal recognition of the Naval Advisory Group's new role as an operational as well as an advisory command. The U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff approved the proposed operating concept on 16 March, and on that very day the first U. S. Navy ships reported for duty, the destroyers Higbee (DD-806) and Black (DD-666). rockets, some of which were wired for command firing from camouflaged spider holes many meters away from the banks. The streets of the two principal evacuation centers, Hanoi and Haiphong, were soon choked with masses of desperate people. Chronology - Navy Overall Market Time operations were controlled from the Surveillance Operations Center located at the Naval Advisory Group Headquarters in Saigon.