UNCLASSIFIED
ROUTINE
R XXXXXXZ MAR 18
FM CNO WASHINGTON DC
TO NAVADMIN
INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC
BT
UNCLAS

NAVADMIN XXX/18

SUBJ/Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Overview//

MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/DNS/MAR//

RMKS/1. The U.S. Navy contributed to the Vietnam War effort on the sea, along the rivers and coastal waters, in the air, and even on land. The dimension of that effort is demonstrated by the fact that more than 1.8 million U.S. naval personnel served their country during the 1964-1972 period, and over 450 Navy ships (USS and USNS) and well over 1,000 smaller vessels plied its waters. Fifteen Sailors received the Medal of Honor and 126, the Navy Cross, for their heroism during the war. During the early years of the struggle, U.S. Navy ships transported over 300,000 refugees and Soldiers from North to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War in 1954. U.S. Navy surface ships and aircraft also were some of the first non-advisory units to see direct combat following a confrontation between North Vietnamese torpedo boats and a U.S. Navy warship on 2 August 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin.

2. The 8 March 1965 amphibious landing of the 3d Battalion, 9th Marines, by Vancouver (LPD-2), Mount McKinley (AGC-7), Henrico (APA-45), and Union (AKA-106) at Danang became the first large-scale amphibious operation of the war. Thereafter, the Amphibious Force (Task Force 76) and its attached Marine units conducted numerous over-the-beach and helicopter landings in South Vietnam in search of the elusive Viet Cong. The Navy’s Amphibious Ready Group and Special Landing Force (ARG/SLF) in Vietnam usually consisted of three or four ships that together transported a Marine helicopter squadron, 41 tracked landing vehicles, and a battalion landing team.

3. Surface bombardment from destroyers and cruisers was another critical Navy contribution to the war. In Operation Sea Dragon, begun in October 1966, cruisers, destroyers, and for one month battleship New Jersey (BB-62), ranged the North Vietnamese coast sinking Communist supply craft, shelling coastal batteries and radar sites, and hitting other interdiction type targets. While at first restricted to coastal waters south of 1731’N, by February 1967 the Sea Dragon force was authorized to operate as far north as the 20th parallel. In 1972, Navy surface ships earned high marks, firing over 111,000 rounds at targets along the North Vietnamese coastline, and hitting supply trains and follow-on forces involved in the Easter Offensive.

4. The Navy also established a tight patrol of the South Vietnamese coastline, interdicting North Vietnamese vessels attempting to supply Communist forces and providing gunfire support as needed to allied troops. Task Force 115, in Operation Market Time, conducted the most successful of these programs, all but eliminating infiltration by North Vietnamese steel-hulled freighters and curtailing oceangoing junk infiltration by 70 percent. Overall, TF-115’s 5,000 personnel and 126 craft from two services (USCG and USN) reduced North Vietnamese resupply by sea of its forces in the South by 90 percent.

5. In 1965, the U.S. Navy established Task Force 116, the River Patrol Force, in the Mekong Delta and Rung Sat Special Zone. Comprised of five divisions, each with 20 PBRs (patrol boat river), TF-116’s initial mission was to patrol the major rivers in the Mekong Delta, keep shipping channels open, and search suspicious river craft for contraband. The operation, known as Game Warden, eventually expanded to include disrupting enemy troop movements along rivers, special operations, and fire support for ground forces.

6. In June 1967, the Navy activated Task Force 117, as part of a combined Army/Navy Mobile Riverine Force (MRF), to engage in amphibious operations in the Mekong Delta. TF-117’s two squadrons of modified landing craft and other boats transported elements of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division to some of the most inaccessible areas of the delta. When the enemy exposed itself in large numbers, as was the case during Tet 1968, the MRF’s ability to project a massive force nearly anywhere in the delta proved instrumental in recapturing cities and inflicting a severe blow on the enemy in the process.

7. Hoping to prevent enemy forces from rebuilding their strength in the region after the Tet Offensive, Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., appointed Commander Naval Forces Vietnam in September 1968, devised SEALORDS (Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, Delta Strategy). This operation established a string of small bases and barrier patrols along the waterways near the border between Vietnam and Cambodia designed to disrupt enemy resupply through that region. By spring 1969 these forces had seized over 200 tons of supplies and, according to the then Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) commander, General Creighton Abrams, greatly reduced Viet Cong activity in the delta. By 1970 allied forces had made it especially difficult for the enemy to maintain the supply route and had established a military presence in previously uncontested areas.

8. At peak strength, TF116’s 256 small boats along with TF-117’s 184, augmented by a Vietnam Navy comprising 655 vessels of various types, helped transform the delta from a hotbed of insurgency to one of the most secure areas of South Vietnam. In fact, the delta was the last area of the country to succumb to the Communists during the final battles of the war in 1975.

9. Naval air power played an indispensable role in the war from the first retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam following the Gulf of Tonkin incident to Rolling Thunder, the longest sustained bombing campaign of the war, and Linebacker I & II—the war’s air power finale. The U.S. Navy deployed a total of 17 aircraft carriers to Vietnam. Those flattops made 73 cruises lasting a total of 8,248 days. Navy and Marine aircraft dropped 1.5 million tons of bombs during the course of the war—approximately 24% of the total tonnage delivered by American air power. The Navy lost 531 fixed-wing aircraft in combat and suffered 299 losses through accidents. The North Vietnamese and Chinese captured 170 naval aviators and aircrew, 160 of whom Hanoi released in 1973. During the three-and-a-half year Rolling Thunder aerial assault, Navy and Marine aircraft flew 152,399 attack sorties against North Vietnam, just short of the Air Force total of 153,784 attack sorties. These U.S. strikes dropped 864,000 tons of bombs and missiles on North Vietnam. This total compared with 653,000 tons of conventional bombs unleashed during the three years of the Korean War, and the 503,000 tons dropped in the Pacific theater during more than three years of World War II. All told, Navy pilots shot down 29 enemy aircraft during the Rolling Thunder period while losing just eight aircraft to MiGs.

10. The Navy’s logistical support for the war cannot be understated. It ranged from sea and airlift of supplies and personnel to and within the theater of operations to base building, medical, and administrative support on the ground. Much of the material assistance provided to the Vietnamese people came by sea, as did 99 percent of the ammunition and fuel and 95 percent of the supplies, vehicles, and construction resources required for the war effort. Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS, renamed Military Sealift Command in 1970) shipping carried over 40,000 U.S. and allied combat and support troops to South Vietnam. The Mobile Logistic Support Force (Task Force 73) labored to keep the fleet’s warships on station and engaged with the enemy. Ashore, naval support activities in Danang and Saigon provided logistical support for most naval units in Vietnam as well as a variety of units from other armed services. Over the span of several years, the Naval Support Activity (NSA) Danang became the Navy’s largest overseas logistic command. Seabees also contributed mightily to logistics effort in Vietnam ashore. The Seabee presence in Vietnam grew from one battalion of 600 men in 1965 to over 10,000 Sailors. Seabees built helicopter pads, airfield runways, and hangars at Chu Lai, Danang, and Phu Bai. They also constructed port facilities at Danang and Cua Viet; surfaced, resurfaced, and kept open Route 1 and other vital roads and erected thousands of bridges.

11. The war was not without unrest and tragedy. Racial unrest struck the Navy late in the war when a race riot occurred on Kitty Hawk (CV-63), part of TF-77, and soon spread to other ships in the Western Pacific and beyond. Additionally, tragic fires on Oriskany (CVA34), Forrestal (CV-59), and Enterprise (CVN-65) resulted in the deaths of 206 Sailors and the injury of another 631. The Viet Cong mining of Westchester County (LST-1167) and YRBM-16 killed 25 Sailors and injured many more. Collectively, these accidents and tragedies lead to developments in ship damage control that endure to the present day.

12. Neither the Navy nor any of the other services managed to prevent the North Vietnamese and their Viet Cong allies from ultimately prevailing despite winning nearly all of the major battles it fought, including the Tet Offensive in 1968 and the Easter Offensive in 1972. The Navy’s involvement in war ended in April 1975 with the evacuation of over 7,000 Americans and Vietnamese from Saigon by Navy Task Force 76 during Operation Frequent Wind. All told, 2,555 Sailors lost their lives during the war.

13. Released by Vice Admiral K. M. Donegan, Director, Navy Staff.//