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Swift Boat Operations in Vietnam

I enlisted in the Navy on February 5, 1968; that was 3 days after my 19th birthday. Shortly before completing basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center I received my first set of orders. I was about to become a crew member of the USS Krishna. 

At that time it was in dry-dock at the base in Yokosuka, Japan. With renovations complete we got underway at a less than blistering 9 knots. On September 24 we dropped our anchors in An Thoi, Vietnam. That was the first day of what was about to become one of the most interesting and memorable chapters of my life; maintaining and repairing Patrol Craft Fast, (P.C.F.'s), also known as Swift Boats.

Approximately 3 and a half years before my deployment to Vietnam General William Westmoreland, Commander of the Military Assistance Command in Saigon had requested shallow water craft to support the newly formed Coastal Surveillance Force.

Their assignment - curtail the flow of North Vietnamese troops and supplies to the south via waterways. 

Medium-sized military water craft.

USS Krishna ARL 38

Prior to the arrival of Swift Boats the Viet Cong had unbounded access to rivers, canals and the coastline for smuggling and infiltration operations. 

The Navy had tested a variety of boats to address the specific needs of combating that type of guerrilla warfare before opting to utilize a craft built by Sewart Seacraft, a Louisiana based manufacturer. 

The Swift Boats were transported to the Philippines; An Thoi and Da Nang were selected as the two areas most critical to the needs the new craft could address. The 50 foot long 25 knot quarter inch thick aluminum hull Swift Boats had twin 50 caliber machine guns above the pilot house and a single 50 over an 81 mm mortar aft. Swift Boats quickly proved to be the perfect fit for the type of warfare underway on the rivers and along the coast. 

Small boat on the water.

Vietnamese Fishing Boat.

During Operation Market Time Swift Boats maintained a 24/7 schedule and interacted with hundreds of 'junks' (fishing vessels) daily. Consequently, keeping Swift Boats up and running was vital to the new 'Small Boat Brown-Water Navy'. 

The majority of junks that Swift Boat sailors encountered were operated by legitimate fishermen. That gave the sailors the opportunity to engage in good will gestures such as giving cigarettes and candy to those on the junks that were being inspected for contraband.  

Virg Erwin was the Officer in Charge of P.C.F. 67 and is the author of 'Cat Lo - A Memoir of Invincible Youth'. I had the pleasure of meeting Virg in 2007 shortly after I joined the Swift Boat Sailors Association. On the long list of functions Swift Boats were capable of was rendering humanitarian aid.

In his award winning book Virg describes an encounter with a large junk.

Upon boarding it he, his translator and a crew member see a young girl that has been badly burned. Virg and his crew wanted to transport her to a hospital but her father resisted. Virg recalled "I do not think the young girl will live. In my mind I still see the father cradling her in his arms as she closed her eyes". Some memories of war are absolutely indelible and not all of them occur during combat. 

Book cover for "Cat Lo."

Read Virg's story submission, called Too Young To Die.

Swift Boats were manned by crews of 6, one officer and 5 enlisted that had to adapt to being a part of this new facet on military service. I have always found it interesting that 80% of the crews were volunteers. Utilizing 5 Coastal Surveillance Centers to coordinate their patrols, Operation Market Time proved to be successful in its assigned task. 

The next phase of Swift Boat operations was to conduct surveillance along the 1,500 miles of South Vietnam's coastline. Once again, Swift Boats delivered. 

For the sailors aboard the USS Krishna our job was to keep Swift Boats up and running. To a man, we took pride in what we did. Over the years I have occasionally looked back on my time in An Thoi and know morale was never a problem. As a crew, we were tighter than a hat band. 

Some memories of war are absolutely indelible and not all of them occur during combat.

As an Electricians Mate Apprentice I am confident the $83 that was all mine twice a month was well earned. One component of a Swift Boat electrical system was two 24 volt battery banks. They served as the primary source of power for engine starting, navigation lights, radar and general purpose lighting. The portside batteries were for standby power and the starboard bank provided general boat power. The wiring configuration ensured both banks could function in parallel to maintain the operation of essential systems.

The batteries were located in the aft section of the 'engine room'; trust me, that's a relative term. In order to access, service and replace them you had to navigate over and around two 480 HP Detroit Marine Diesels. 

As a now retired aerospace engineer I am confident that when Swift Boats were being designed the engineers never considered the electricians that worked on them weren't former football players. Fortunately, in my case I played baseball and I worked on Swift Boats 48 years and 62 pounds ago. 

Swift Boat.

Supplies were, at times, problematic. I still remember a Swift Boat coming back from a patrol and some of the battery posts were in, shall we say, less than new condition.

I noticed a few now-empty 50 caliber machine gun shells were on the deck and saw them as the answer to the battery post problem. I hack-sawed the firing pin off and put what was left on a grinding wheel to thin out one side. I then tapped them over what was left of a battery post and poured in solder. When it cooled I peeled the shell off and had a good battery post. 

I still remember the Captain of the Krishna seeing that, laughing and saying "Well, that's one way to do it".

On December 5, 1968 (my memory isn't this good; I kept a log book) former Vaudeville performer Georgie Jessel was in An Thoi for a USO show. I have believed for years you can never have too much chocolate or laughter and Georgie provided plenty of the second.

The following day P.C.F. 36 returned with heavy damage to the radar and electrical systems. For the Krishna electricians it was all hands on deck. During the day typhoon warnings were issued. Life in Vietnam was never boring.

The Krishna had a 'port and starboard' duty rotation; every other day you would stand a 4 or 5 hour watch. On December 20 I had mid-watch, midnight to 4 AM on the bow and had an M 16 and a box of concussion grenades. They were thrown into the water occasionally to keep Viet Cong from planting explosives on the ship. I threw what turned out to be a short fuse grenade and it was the loudest sound I had heard other than a Led Zeppelin concert. Days later I almost didn't hear Santa coming.

***

On May 10, 1969 I departed the Krishna and flew to Saigon. I was on my way back to 'the states'. Dan Daly was the Officer in Charge of P.C.F. 76. The web site for his book 'White Water, Red Hot Lead' notes: 

"White Water, Red Hot Lead is a story about U.S. Navy Swift Boats in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968. It is an engaging fast-paced nonfiction story that switches gears between character development intertwined with the rawness of combat, the vagaries of the landscape, with equal measures of romance and humor, all equally demanding yet accurate".

Well said. Virg and Dan have detailed this chapter of Vietnam history with clarity.

Book cover for "White Water Red Hot Lead."

During the 2011 Swift Boat Sailors Association reunion in San Antonio, Texas, we received some information during the business meeting that had every sailor present on the edge of their seat. A Swift Boat would be coming home to San Diego! That news was shared, at this point, years ago and I can still recall the applause that broke out in the meeting room. Other than those directly involved in obtaining the boat I don’t think the sailors in that room ever believed we would be on an operational Swift Boat again.

In 1971 the U.S. Navy donated two Swift Boats to the newly established government in the nation of Malta. Those Swift Boats had been used for training at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, California. 

While operating in Malta they were a part of that country’s Maritime Squadron. For nearly 40 years they functioned as coast guard vessels involved in rescue work of those fleeing North Africa and enforcing fishing rights. In 2010 the Swift Boats were placed into retirement and Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s Minister of Defense donated one of them to the Maritime Museum of San Diego for $1.00 and no, that isn’t a typo.

The San Diego bound Swift Boat was transferred to a container ship and arrived in Norfork, Virginia. It was then placed on a unique truck/trailer rig. At 14 feet wide, 16 feet high and 43,000 pounds it required a highly skilled driver to bring her 2,600 miles back to San Diego for a warm ‘welcome home’ reception.

Magazine Cover, Sea Classics
Page from a swift boat article from magazine.
Page from a swift boat article from magazine.

The driver of the rig, Kit Copeland was honored at the 2013 Swift Boat Sailors Association reunion. A full-scale restoration was done, with a significant amount of the volunteer work performed by Swift Boat Sailors Association members, at the Marine Group Works in Chula Vista; not far from San Diego. The project was supervised by the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Subsequent to being certified by the Coast Guard as a documented vessel P.C.F. 816 was placed on exhibit at the museum and operates narrated tours that detail the Swift Boat history of Vietnam and Malta.

Swift Boat Sailors Association logo.
A cabinet full of awards and memorabilia, model scale swift boat perched atop.
Laser-engraved token with an outline of Vietnam on it. Text reads: Vietnam Veteran; all gave some, some gave all.
A model replica of a swift boat, American flag waving.

For those interested in the history of the Vietnam War, the chance to ride on a Swift Boat and have that tour of San Diego Bay narrated by a former Officer in Charge provides insight into an aspect of the war that, over the years, has not received a lot of exposure. There were only about 3,500 of us involved as crew members or support personnel. The Swift Boat Sailors Association members that worked on the restoration of P.C.F. 816 adopted the nickname The Dirty Boat Guys. How appropriate. Restoring one that had been operational for about 40 years would make that a perfect name. In looking at photos of them taken during the restoration the one thing that stood out for me was the amount of smiles I saw in those photos. The restoration required a lot of sweat and elbow grease but as I saw on my first ride on P.C.F. 816, it’s easy to tell it was done with a lot of heart.

Among Swift Boat sailors, those that did not make it back home are listed as “Still on patrol”. My contribution to ‘Vietnam – The Story Wall’ was submitted in their honor. I believe all members of the military that made it back are obligated to live our lives to the fullest as an acknowledgement to those that gave their all.

Young soldier on a boat on the water, leaning against the cabin.

Tom Edwards taking a Swift Boat for a 'test drive.'

Biographical Details

Primary Location During Vietnam: An Thoi, Vietnam Vietnam location marker

Story Subject: Military Service

Military Branch: U.S. Navy

Dates of Service: 1968 - 1971

Veteran Organization: Swift Boat Sailors Association

Unit: USS Krishna

Specialty: Electrician

Story Themes: 1968, 1969, 1970, An Thoi, Brotherhood, Dan Daly, Enlisting, Forest Lake, Look, Navy, Swift Boat, Swift Boat Sailors Association, Tom Edwards, USS Krishna, Virg Erwin, Virgil Erwin

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