The Coast Guard in Vietnam Squadron One The backbone of the Coast Guard Fleet were the twenty-six 82-foot patrol boats (WBP). Known as Squadron One. The 82-footers main job was choking off the enemys sea borne supplies. Much of the action took place near the border, Division 12, out of Danang in the north, patrolled the 17th parallel. Division 11, based at An Thoi in the south, guarded the border between South Vietnam and Cambodia. At first, these patrol boats formed a barrier from the shore straight out into the ocean. They were to cut off the enemy as they tried to enter South Vietnamese waters. But the North Vietnamese sent their supplies in large steel-hulled vessels far out to sea and beat the blockade by going around it. So, the Coast Guard and Navy changed tactics. Rather than trying to catch the enemy as they entered Southern waters, the Coast Guard and Navy decided to hit them as they approached the drop-off points. The boats formed a picket line along the shoreline and covered the area with radar. When a target was spotted, they would attack. A year after the new defensive scheme was set up, enemy smuggling was stopped cold. In desperation, the communists tried a tactical change of their own. In February 1968, The North Vietnamese ran four large trawlers south all at once, in the hope of getting something through. Three were destroyed, and one retreated. After that, sea-borne smuggling was largely carried out in small sampans. The patrol boats also worked with the Navy SEALs and recon units. They also gave emergency support to Special Forces camps, transported personnel, evacuated wounded and provided naval-gunfire support. About two years into Operation Market Time, naval operations were extended further off-shore and expanded into the Gulf of Thailand. Market Time units stopped many enemy vessels carrying supplies and men. The success of the operation forced the enemy to rely on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to transport supplies. As many of the trawler kills were in southern Vietnam near the Ca Mau Peninsula, the enemy had to carry supplies over an extraordinary long distance.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 16:13:31 +0000
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