RIPPLE SALVO… #948… FIFTY YEARS AGO THE SHOULDERING OF US NAVY WARSHIPS WAS BY SOVIET KASHINs AND KRIVAKs. LAST WEEK THE NEAR MISS ON USS DECATUR WAS A RECKLESS RUN BY RED CHINA’s PRC 170. On 9 October 1968 Chief-of-Naval Operations Thomas Moorer spoke on the growing Soviet Naval threat to American supremacy at sea. WE HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE… but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day NINE HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT of a look back of 50 years to the days of Operation Rolling Thunder…
HEAD LINES from The NEW YORK TIMES on Wednesday, 9 October 1968…
THE WAR: Page 9: “ENEMY SHELL HITS U.S. DESTROYER–THREE SAILORS INJURED BY SHORE BATTERIES NEAR VINH”… “North Vietnamese coastal guns scored a direct hit on the destroyer USS Furse yesterday wounding three sailors. There were no fatalities among the ship’s crew. The destroyer fired back, but poor visibility prevented any assessment of damage inflicted by the Furse’s guns. The destroyer fired 24 rounds at the North Vietnamese battery. The incident occurred while the Furse was on patrol against coastal shipping about 13 miles south of Vinh…The destroyer continued on patrol after the exchange of fire.”… Page 9: “ENEMY FORCE DEFEATED”… “American infantrymen defeated and scattered a large force of North Vietnamese soldiers today after pursuing them for nearly 20 hours through rice paddies and jungles. The enemy soldiers, who were believed to be members of the 101dty North Vietnamese Army Regiment, opended fire as the Americans advanced on a search and clear operation in an area 10 miles east of the Cambodian border and 28 miles northwest of Saigon. The Americans continued to push forward, clearing the wy with artillery bombardments and fighter-bomber strikes. The bodies of 42 enemy soldiers were found after the enemy force withdrew….The United States marines in the demilitarized zone attacked a group of 20-30 North Vietnamese soldiers and killed 17 of them. Two marines were killed and 47 wounded. The action occurred about a miles south of the Benhai river which bisects the zone in the same area where they discovered a large cache of ammunition two days before… In two actions south of Danang other American forces reported having killed 76 North Vietnamese. thirty died in an area four miles east of two small outposts that have been harassed by the enemy for almost two weeks. Some of the hundreds of marines who have been attempting to relieve pressure on the two camps–Anduc and Thuonduc–directed fighter-bombers to the enemy position. In a skirmish to hold the North Vietnamese in position, 12 marines were wounded….Other marines have been doing more searching than fighting…This morning they had found a mass grave containing the bodies of 33 North Vietnamese. It was not clear how they had died.”… Page 9: “ENEMY DEATHS DOWN IN WEEK”… “Government Headquarters reported today that the number of enemy soldiers killed last week was the lowest in two months. at the same time, it ws announced that Vietcong terrorists killed more civilians in the .last two weeks than in any previous two-week period this year, except during the February and may offensives. While more than 1,654 enemy soldiers were killed last week, 2,866 were killed the previous week and 3,380 two weeks before. Government casualties were 322 killed and 1,065 wounded, a slight increase from the prior week …. The United States mission said that 348 civilians were killed by the Vietcong and 730 were wounded. 753 were abducted. Since the first of the year, terrorists have killed 4,150, wounded 9,379 and abducted 6,538.”…
PEACE TALKS: Page 1: “PRESIDENT READY TO LET SUCCESSOR RESOLVE THE WAR–He Is Depicted as Unwilling To Offer Any Last-Minute Concession On the Bombing”… “Administration sources say that President Johnson would rather bequeath the task of negotiating a Vietnam peace settlement to his successor than halt the bombing of North Vietnam on what he believes are less than honorable terms. There are indications that Mr. Johnson is searching for a more flexible formula in which to couch his demand that the North Vietnamese make military concessions in return for a cessation of the bombing.”… Page 10: “U.S. SEES NO SIGNS OF ADVANCE IN PARIS”… “The United States delegation to the Vietnam talks said today that it had no indication of a possible breakthrough soon. The delegation was commenting on press and radio reports here that there could be a break before the United States Presidential election November 5. ‘There could be a break in the talks tomorrow (9th) if the North Vietnamese are prepared to move along with us in scaling down the fighting…and if they do, why we would move, as President Johnson put it, far and fast.’…”... Page 10: “VANCE IS BACK IN PARIS”…
STATE DEPARTMENT. OFFICE OF HISTORIAN. Historical Documents. Foreign Relations. 1964-68, Vietnam. Document 54 in Volume 7 is a telegram form the Peace negotiators in Paris communicating the lack of progress at the Wednesday meeting… Succinct. read at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d54
HEAD LINES: Page 1: “HUMPHREY PUSHES FOR SUMMIT TALKS TO END US-USSR ARMS RACE–Suggests Leaders Meeting Be made Regular To Avoid Plunge Into Atom War”… Page 1; “NIXON BIDS PROTEST VOTER THINK TWICE ON WALLACE”… Page 1: “HUMPHREY LEADS LABOR POLL, 34-22–VOTE FOR NIXON AND WALLACE TOTAL 57%–Administration Handling of War Opposed by 49%”… Page 1: “ISRAEL PRESENTS PEACE PROPOSAL–OFFERS PULLOUT–Eban In U.N. Speech Limits Troop Moves To Setting Up Secure Middle East Borders–U.N. Role Stressed–Nine-Point Plan Puts Less Emphasis On Negotiating Directly With Arabs”… Page 5: “F-111 COSTS AND DEFECTS DRAW FIRE IN AUSTRALIA–GROTON EMBARRASSED BY DELAY IN DELIVERIES–Critics Say Causes Defense Gap”… Page 12: “DEFENSE CONCEDES CHARGES IN DRAFT FILES CASE–Argument On Larger Issue Is Asked–As Trial Of Catonsville Nine In Baltimore Begins”… Page 30: ‘LeMAY SEES PLAN TO DISRUPT VOTE–Says Left Wing Protesters Aim To Upset Election”….
9 OCTOBER 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (10 Oct reporting 9 Oct ops)… Page 16: “American pilots flew 129 raids into North Vietnam, some flying to within three-quarters of a mile of the 19th Parallel to bomb a radar site. Since President Johnson ordered a partial bombing pause last March 31, there have been no reports by the United States high command in Saigon of any attack missions above the 19th Parallel.” … VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 9 October 1968…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR THE FOUR 9 OCTOBER DATES FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965, 1968…NONE…
1966… LCDR CHARLES NELS TANNER, USN… (POW, 2,339 days)… and… LT RUSS RANDLE TERRY, USN… (POW, 2,339 days)… (Refer to 9-Oct-66 for details on the downing of their F-4 (Ripple Salvo #222)
1967… MAJOR JAMES ARLEN CLEMENTS, USAF… (POW, 1,984 days)… (Refer to 9-Oct-67 for RTR posthumous tribute to Major Clements as one of the bravest of the brave, with specifics on four of his awards for valor. Ripple Salvo #582
The same Salvo identified a 6-page CIA brief for the President titled: “The Consequences of a Halt in the Bombardment of North Vietnam” dated 9 October 1967… The President was already thinking retreat… read again at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d351
RIPPLE SALVO… #948… From The New York Times, 9-Oct-68, Page 3. Reuters, Washington:
“ADMIRAL MOORER TERMS SOVIET MORE AGGRESSIVE ON HIGH SEAS”…
“A United States Navy leader said today that Soviet naval operations were becoming more aggressive. Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations, said ‘the Soviets’ ocean operations are becoming unmistakably more aggressive, more varied, and are being conducted at ever-increasing distances from their home bases.’
“He told the House Armed Services subcommittee that the Soviet Union conducted ‘intense surveillance’ of a recent naval exercise of the North Atlantic alliance near Norway and deployed its new helicopter carrier Moskva (Moscow) in the Mediterranean for the first time. Vice Admiral Lawson P. Ramsey, commander of the Military Sea Transportation Service, testified that the United States recently had difficulty in getting Western ships to fulfill contracts to carry defense department supplies.
TWO REFUSALS REPORTED
“He said that a West German vessel refused in March to carry a cargo of 27 heavy tanks to Iran. In August, a Swedish tanker loading oil in the Persian Gulf for South Vietnam asked to be ‘let off the hook’ for fear of political labor union reaction at home in view of anti-Vietnam war demonstrators., he said. The two admirals testified at hearings on the status of United States naval and merchant marine strength. Admiral Moorer said that the Soviet merchant marine, now the world’s seventh largest in deadweight tonnage, helped establish a presence for political purposes and also served intelligence and scientific purposes by allowing Russians to make observations in areas where they had not previously operated. He said 50 to 100 trawler-style boats were used for electronic monitoring and other intelligence.”….
Page 3: “ADMIRAL SEES THREAT”… Burbank, Cal. “An American admiral made public today intelligence photographs for the Soviet helicopter carrier Moskva to illustrate what he described as Moscow’s effort to gain supremacy of the sea. Vice Admiral Turner F. Caldwell, Jr., director of antisubmarine warfare programs, described the ship, which recently appeared in the Mediterranean, as a multipurpose vessel capable of dispatching marines ashore in assault helicopters and of handling new vertical takeoff fighter-bombers.
“The vertical takeoff planes have not been seen operating from the Moskva, which is one of two ships in a new class. The admiral flew from Washington to unveil the Navy’s newest weapons system designed to counter the Soviet submarine program, the $7-million P3-C Orion, a long-range hunter-killer airplane. Richard M. Nixon, Republican Presidential candidate, criticized the Johnson Administration in a recent speech in Norfolk, Virginia, for being too complacent about the Soviet naval threat.
TEXT WAS APPROVED
“The text of Admiral Caldwell’s speech, and the release of the pictures of the Soviet carrier, were approved by the Defense Department. The principal offensive arm of the Soviet navy, Admiral Caldwell said, is the submarine, both ballistic missile and anti-shipping types. Since World War II, the Russians have built up a fleet of 350 submarines, by far the largest in the world and have replaced 50 diesel-electric submarines with nuclear-powered ones.
“Admiral Caldwell noted that some of the Soviet submarines, like the American Polaris, could fire weapons while submerged. Other sources said the Russians were known to maintain such submarines on permanent station off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, much as Polaris submarines remain within range of potential targets in the Soviet Union. A viewpoint at variance with Admiral Caldwell’s contention that Soviet naval strategy was becoming more aggressive was published last month in the forward to the 1968-69 issue of Jane’s Fighting Ships. Raymond V. B. Blackman, editor of Jane’s, wrote ‘A study… would now appear to indicate that Soviet maritime strategy is defensive or containing, rather than provacative or aggressive.’ “….
RTR QUOTE for 9 October: SOVIET ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET SERGEI GORSHKOV, Time Magazine, February 1968, (Gorshkov on the cover): “The flag of the Soviet navy now proudly flies over the oceans of the world. Sooner or later, the U.S. will have to understand that it no longer has mastery of the seas.”…
(Webmaster note: In the Spring of 1986 I saw a speech by former president Nixon. He stated that the Soviet Union would eventually implode, and China would become the biggest threat not only to America, but also the free world. He was right. While Putin is assailed over actions in Ukraine (a conflict that in reality has been ongoing for more than a century), the PRC is executing their plan of world domination, with the assistance of western politicians, businesses and entertainment conglomerates)
Lest we forget… Bear