from the Atlantic and the Pacific

to the South China Sea

is a fleet which is probably the most powerful in history

the modern United States Navy.

And yet today, with all the sophistication and refinement of modern weapons

and computerized systems,

this same navy has been called upon to fight a unique

and different kind of war.

In Vietnam,

the special demands of guerrilla warfare

have shaped another navy.

I am Raymond Burr.

What you're about to see is not the story of the familiar deep water navy

we already know so well,

the navy of aircraft carrier, cruiser and destroyer.

This is about the shallow water fleet, the specially designed craft

which serve in Vietnam,

prepare to meet the Viet Cong on its own terms and outlast it.

It is the story of river warfare and coastal surveillance,

of patrol boat and river assault craft.

It is this story of the small boat navy.

The US Navy Presents

The Small Boat Navy

In the late 50s and the early 60s,

American naval advisers working with units of the South Vietnamese Navy

observe the terrain and consider the tactics

which will one day confront the small boat navy.

All along the 1,500 miles of South Vietnam's coastline

and the endless waterways of the Meikong River Delta,

9 million acres of fertile wet rice paddies and farm lands,

the only practical means of transportation for farmers and businessmen,

fishermen and tourists,

government loyalists and Viet Cong

is by water.

Uncontrolled,

this normal activity provides the VC with a continuing opportunity

for smuggling and infiltration.

It is clear to American naval observers early in the war

that an essential step

in denying this most populous area of South Vietnam to the Viet Cong

would be the development of patrol craft

suited to the task of controlling these lands of transportation and communication.

Some existing craft come close to fitting the requirements.

The US Navy's LCPL, originally designed for amphibious operations,

is quickly singled out for assignment in Vietnam.

WPB,

an 82 foot Coast Guard cutter

used throughout US waters, is one of the first craft

to arrive for duty.

Today, the Coast Guard and Navy work hand-in-hand on coastal patrol.

More advanced designs are studied.

An air cushion vehicle capable of 60 miles per hour over ground or water

is tested to examine the possibilities it offers for use in swampy terrain.

In a search for shallow draft high-speed craft,

the navy examines various hulls and propulsion systems.

Many of them already being used at the time in some of the newest pleasure boat

and in small commercial craft, such as this

high-speed supply and replenishment boat being used with offshore

oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

From this civilian hull, it developed a new military craft,

the US navy's patrol craft Fast,

better known as the swift boat.

50 feet long and capable of running at 25 knot,

the swift boat is armed with twin 50 caliber machine guns forward

and a single 50 mounted with an 81mm mortar aft.

The swifts are the first of the new navy small boats to operate in Vietnam.

There are two basic areas of operation for the small boat navy in Vietnam,

in the rivers

and along the coast.

The swift boats were assigned to Operation Market Time,

the navy's code name for coastal patrol and security.

Each day along the coast of Vietnam, thousands of civilian craft

take to the waters in an normal activities of fishing

travel and marketing.

To prevent the enemy for mixing with his normal traffic

for smuggling and infiltration,

the units of Operation Market Time are constantly on patrol.

Operation Market Time is a continuous round the clock effort

which is coordinated through five coastal surveillance centers

located at key points along the coast.

At these centers, US naval personnel

work together with the south Vietnamese navy

to direct the activities of the units assigned to their surveillance area.

--__ __ have Red Baron 3-2 to proceed to intercept that junk. --All right, Sir.

Red Baron 3-2, this is coast watcher. Over.

As suspicious contact report received at the coast of surveillance center

is relayed to a swift boat patrolling on station.

Coast Watcher, this is Red Baron 3-2 roger. Over.

3-2, this Coast Watcher,

A small cargo junk

(?)at just as far as the beach

Please contact. It's on the unidentifing. Proceed doing this ... Over.

Coast Watcher, this is Red Baron 3-2, Uh... roger. We are going to intercept(?) her.

Send the general quarter to prepare a board(?) search. --All right, sir.

The swifts board hundreds of junks each day

searching for possible Viet Cong contraband,

separating it from legitimate cargo.

Because papers may have been falsified, holds are opened and inspected.

Identification cards and cargo manifest have to be checked.

If contraband is found or if their papers are not in order,

the men will be turned over to Vietnamese authorities.

But the majority of people who encountered the Americans' swift boats

are legitimate fishermen or merchants.

And an important byproduct of Operation Market Time

is a good will exchange between the American sailors

and those who are operating within established regulations.

Swift boats have also assisted in many special operations.

The 81-mm mortar gives the swift the capability

to support friendly troop operations

or defense Vietnamese outpost along the coast.

In a fire fight, the swift 50 caliber machine guns

have been used to support reconnaissance team,

amphibious assault,

and cover the evacuation of wound from combat areas.

Costal patrols comprise the largest phase of Operation Market Time.

But there is another phase, Operation Stable Door,

in which the US Navy has formed a protective screen around the merchant ships

which must wait in Vietnam's harbors

until clear to unload their vital cargos.

On a hill overlooking the merchant ships

is the harbor entrance control post

in which a 24 hour surveillance is maintained

over all movements in the anchorage area.

Listener 3-3, this is High Post. Over.

The other half of this harbor defense team

is the detachment of US Navy gunboats

which patrol among the merchant ships themselves.

Listener 3-3, this is High Post. Over.

High Post, this is Listener 3-3. Over.

High Post. Eagle watch.

Recon reports, a large fishing junk into your area.

Eagle watch suspects she is changing course

to avoid your patrol and you investigate it. Over.

High Post, this is Listener 3-3 roger. Have contact visually. Go intercept. Out.

The Stable Door patrol boats move among the anchored merchantmen,

guarding them from any possibility of the Viet Cong attack

or sabotage which could come in the form of

underwater swimmers, mines or small boats.

They are especially wary of a civilian craft

that entered the immediate anchorage area

or move in an unusual manner.

Suspicious junk has stopped and searched.

Cargoes are inspected.

And identification papers are checked.

Stable door patrol boats also worked with divers

of specially-trained EOD

or explosive ordinance disposal teams

who are skilled in the detection and disposal of mines

which could be planted by Viet Cong swimmers.

By constantly checking the hulls of anchored merchant ships,

these EOD divers

have contributed heavily to the success of Operations Stable Door.

Less than a mile from the anchorage on a hillside near Vung Tau,

there is an illustration of a different phase(?)

of the small boat navy operations in Vietnam.

In addition to their strictly military duties,

the men of Operation Market Time contribute to many problems of civic action.

In this case,

helping an army nurse who was almost single-handedly adopted an orphanage

Throughout Vietnam, the navy along with other services and agencies

is committed to people-to-people programs like this one.

These men go beyond their normal routine to do this work

and yet it may well be that in the long run

these extra voluntary efforts

and civic action who proved to have been just as important

as their regular military duties on coastal patrol.

From the harbor here at Vung Tau to the inland port of Saigon,

it is 45 tortuous miles

of a twisting, turning river called the Long Tau.

What makes it hazardous is that Long Tau winds

through a 400 square mile area of mangroves(紅樹林) swamps

and waterways known as the Rung Sat, the evil place.

From the air,

it looked drab, forbidding, and uninhabitant.

But to the Viet Cong, it represents a continuing opportunity

to sink one of those merchant ships,

to block the shipping channel,

and stop the flow of supplies to Saigon.

Here on duty in the Long Tau

is another detachment of the small boat navy.

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Each morning, just after the first light of dawn,

The MSBs,

US Navy mine sweeping boats,

cast-off and begin to sweep the river.

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The MSB is 57 feet long,

wooden-hulled and charged with a single vital responsibility

of keeping the river free of mine.

To do this, the crewmen deploy a special mine sweeping gear

It is designed so that when the sweeper has been set to drag behind the boat,

special blades attached to the cable

will cut any control wires or mooring devices attached to the mine.

Once the gear is up,

the six man crew settles into what has become a familiar routine

long hours and methodically moving up and down the Long Tau,

periodically resetting the sweep gear

standing guard and more hours of sweeping.

This too has become part of the daily routine.

Somehow, and no one remembers exactly how,

these men have established their own small people-to-people programs.

It's not much:

cigarettes, soap,

few items of food left over from the daily rations.

But every day as a minesweeper passes this small settlement on the river bank,

the welcoming committee is ready.

And in a way, the hand of friendship is extended.

Day after day from dawn until dusk,

the MSBs sweep the Long Tau.

And yet, it is never really routine.

Often passing only a few yards from the riverbank,

the MSBs are vulnerable

and have often been hit by VC snipers and recoilless rifle fire.

On October 9th 1967,

the mine sweepers of Detachment Alpha Mine Squadron 11

were awarded the first Presidential Unit Citation of the Vietnam War

for extraordinary heroism in action.

The navy's code name

for patrol and security operations on the rivers of Vietnam

is Operation Game Warden.

The mine sweepers are one part of this effort

but they are by no means alone.

At the end of the day the minesweepers returning to their base near Nha Be

pass by a pier where another branch of the small boat navy

is preparing to send out it's night patrol.

Also based in Nha Be are units of one of the navy's newest craft,

the river patrol boat or PBR,

The PBR, developed from an existing civilian pleasure craft,

has been redesigned and equipped for use in

Operation Game Warden on the rivers of Vietnam.

I'll be the patrol __ Sting Ray One.

Cover boat will be the Sting Ray One seven

We have friendly ambushes located tonight here and here.

These are the men who ride the PBRs.

Their mission is to conduct continuous patrols day and night,

denying the use of waterways to Viet Cong

for the transport of men, supplies, or communication.