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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-06815 to 363-06826.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-06815 to 363-06826
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Title
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Article about the U.S. Mobile Riverine Force
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Description
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Original title: "Mobile", Article draft about the amphibious operations conducted by the U.S. Mobile Riverine Force, for the Christian Science Monitor
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AI Usage Disclosure
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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
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Transcript
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- Page 1
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Beverly Ann Deepe
38, Vo Tanh
Saigon, Vietnam,
January 30, 1968
Mobile--page 1
[V]
[1968]
(The U. S. Navy is again engaged in river warfare--for the
first time since the American Civil War.
This three-part report
This second article
examines America's Rice Paddy Navy in Vietnam.
discusses the miniaturized amphis amphibious operations conducted
by the U. S. Mobile Riverine Force,
Mekong Delta.).
including its Monitors of the
ABOARD USS BENEWAH, SOUTH VIETNAM.
The upcoming American buildup of forces in the Mekong Delta
is considered a matter of controversy in Washington; here it is considered
a matter of fact.
Highly
Part of this American buildup--the details of which are
still classified--is known to include increasing the
once-experimental
U. S. Mobile Riverine Force--the first joing joint Navy-Army-river
the first American river force
campaign since the American Civil War.
since the defeat of the Confederacy.
Jetself
Commissioned in September, 1966, this riverine force,
notable for its once-in-a-centry uniqueness,
is also the first time
since the American Civil War
Campaign
the first joint Navy-Army river campaing
since the American Civil War.
The Mobile Riverine Force has two
separate, but coordinated components: two "floating" battalions of the
U. S. 9th Infantry Division (2000 soldiers) and the Navy's River
the mini-ar
Assault Flotilla One (1800 men), which taxis the Army troops into
their amphibious assaults. The S/S
flagship
Benewalt is the
for the the navy and
Army Command Hrd Stage
Seations
,
Stiff
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- Page 2
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Deepe
Mobile – Page
[2]
TH
commands
The USS Benewah is the flagship for the Navy and Army
nds and staff sections,
fov officers and enlisted men,
of the river assault boats.
the "floating home" for 1,100 of these
and a mobile berth for more than a dozen
Besides the Benewah, the Navy
REXEXRX
has also provided four other ships, two to serve as floating barracks,
one for repair work and one as a floating supply warehouse. The sexskipam
One of the barrack ships, for example, is mihem APL-27 26,
an
ax auxiliary pero personnel lighter without self-propulsion, which
is affectionately named by its 800 inhabi residents as "the Green Apple."
These ships, the only ones in the U. S. Navy painted "marine green"
only ones in the U.S. Navy painted "marine green" inster 6 "haze gray"
are praised for keeping the American troops "out of the hair" of the
Vietnamese civilians and for preventing economic dislocation, inflation
and
This
political unrest that has worried land-based commanders.
self-contained complex of ships is a mobile base area and moves from river to 1
river depending on where amphibious troops operations are being conducted.
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- Page 3
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Deepe
Mobile-page 3
[3]
mihamm
The future expansion of the Mobile Riverine Force rests
is bei has been assured by themf effectiveness of the units
in a xi past six-month experimental period of systematic operations
in both the Mekong Delta and the Rung Sat Speic Special Zone, which
lines the ocean-going shipping channel into Saigon. In this six-month
period, 1847 Viet Cong have been killed compared to 184 American sailors
and Army infantrymen. This 10 to 1 kill-ration is higher than any other
American unit in Vietnam. During this period, the Navy's mobile base
Large-Scale
mobile bane he moved and dropped anchor in seven different places
As Classed
from which the Army sprang off for their search-and-destroy raids.
ver
Fifteen major contacts with the Viet Cong have been made; more than
were
2000 enemy bunkers and fortifications have been destroyed. Captured
items include 450 weapons, 80,000 rounds of ammunition and 43 tons
of supplies 1847 Viet Cong have been killed compared to 184 American
This 10 to 1 kill-ration is her higher
sailors and infantrymen.
than any other American unit in Vietnam. Captured enemy dostuments
documents indicate some battered Viet Cong battalions, once 700-men
strong, have been rendered 45 per cent effective. With supplies and
morale running low, Viet Cong commanders have ordered their units
to avoid contact with the Mobile Riverine Force. American officials,
from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara down to Vietnam commanders,
are pleased with the results of the Mobile Riverine Force. And,
plans are underway to expand it dramatically.
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- Page 4
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Deepe
Mobile--page 4
[4]
The tactical purpose of the Mobile Riverine Force is to
AReverborne, yet
conduct classical search-and-destroy infantry operation, of three or four
days duretion duration, in an attempt to crush the 37,000 Viet Cong
Sponged in " Hard Hat
n
main-force a battalions in the Mekong Delta. These Viet Cong
and beefed-up
units,
now being repli replenished with North Vietnamese catre troopers,
of battalions and regiments, nose us hoernate in rort-like wase
areas, generally the low, wet ground of remote mangrove swamps or along
isolated rivers. They maintained training centers for new recruits,
recreation parks for battle-weary ones, combat hospitals built under
dense foliage, sewing factories for making uniforms and even PX's
ING
filled with hair tonic and candy. Well-armed and overpower fro for
the meagre Vietnamese government units, x the Viet Cong strean Strengt
caused military commanders to seek an elite American aqua-borne strike
force to carry the war to the Communist's flooded backyard. If these
Viet Cong hard-hat units could be smashed, the Viet C Vietnamese government
troops could week out the remaining guerrillas infesting the villages.
recently
Then, the newly-elected government in Saigon could pacify the villages,
bringing the people peace and a new standard of living by building
schools, bridges, irrigation projects and dispensaries.
By September, 1966, American commanders had the answer
with the commissioning of the Mobile Riverine Force--the first American
river force since the d4 defeat of the Confederacy.
The force has two
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- Page 5
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[5]
Mobile.
page 5.–
Unlike the helicopter
The Navy, instead of supporting a traditional Io
Iwo Jima-styled operation with titantic battleships and destroyers,
initiated
was committed in the Mekong Delta to amphibious warfare whittled
down to a Tom Thumb scale.
"Our amphibious operations are a miniature in time and
scale," one officer explained. "The Navy carries in a strike force
which assaults and searches for several days and then leaves.
force doesn't stay to occupy territory as we was done in Iwo Jima."
The
The Army troops in the Delta use the same classical infantry
tactics on land, whether they are positioned there by boats, helicopters
or trucks; with troops and boats they construct a box around a pocket
of Viet Cong and then attempt to shrink the sides of the box until the
enemy is caught.
However, without roads in the Del ta,
Mir
impatic
trucks were advisable.
The advantage of using boats, instead of helicopters, is from the
Army standpoint,
in the Swan
assault boats and are more useful than helicopters, la
first because helicopters can not land troops in some of the mangrove
swamps,
second because the boats remain with the infantry troops throughout
the operation and provide minute to minute gmommam firesupport,
even at
night, from the ground, rather than from the a close-in(near the ground
troops,
(antically
instead of overhead from helicopters.
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- Page 6
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Deepi
mobile-page 6.
River page 22
[6]
20th Century on the
to Conden
Suction it finst
new
Salon
سفر
mini – Armed The Navy, however, did not have to consult its Civil War
the
hai history books to re-learn river doctrine and to revamp its equipment;
it simply consulted the Vietnamese Navy. By a quirk of history,
Vietnamese sailors became the advisors to the world's most powerful
Frome
Navy.
shortly after World War II, the
left the French
a number of naval landing craft smens amongst other war surplus goods.
The French modified and armored thom, then shipped them to Vietnam
during the French Indo-China War nearly two decades ago. These armor ed
vessels, come called. Monitors, were organized into Naval Assault
Divisions,
similar to the American organization now. They were the only
tactical innovation the French made in conducting the unconventional war.
When the French lost the war, the flotilla was turned over to the fledging
Vietnamese Navy, which kept them running for years more by ingenuity
than an adequacy of spare parts. When the American advisory effort began
in earnest in 1962, the American sailors started to learn the secrets
of inland water war from the Vietnamese.
(More)
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- Page 7
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Despo..
Mobile
River--page 28
27.
[7]
Copying the Vietnamese river gunboats,
American naval
experts designed their "vest pocket navy." Their task force in miniature
consisted of bantam battleships, called Monitors, dwarfed destroyers,
baby flagships and the armored troop transports. Most of the vessels
were modifications of LCM's (Landing Craft, Mechanized), the workhorse
of World War II invasions, which makes the vessels older than the
majority of the sailors and soldiers who ride it. One World War II
veteran sailor explained, "You remember the pictures of Iwo Jima
with the big boats steaming in the distance and the little boats
carrying troops from the big boats to the beacner beaches.
the Delta we're fighting with only those little boats."
Well, in
The gunfire of the boats in River Flotilla One squa
quadruples the oriz organic, minute-to-minute firepower of the two
infantry battalions they carry into battle. The heavy gunboat of the
flotilla is called the Monitor. The Civil War Monitor--the "cheesebox
on a raft"--would hardly compare with its smaller latter-day version.
The original flat-decked ironclad weighed 900 tons, was 172 feet long and
carried a crow of 58. The 20th-century version weighs 85 tons, is
60 feet, 6 inches long and carries a crew of 11. The famed turret a
century ago revolutionized warfare by turning its two eleven-inch guns,
rather than having the entire boat me maneuvered;
the 20th-century
version has four turrets, containing a .40 mm. forward cannon, a .20 mm.
cannon, a twin .50 and one .30 calibre machineguns. An .81 mm.
mortar is housed in the bowels of the boat./
(More)
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- Page 8
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[9]
Deepe..
Mobile.
River-pa
28
A Sa communications module replaces the Monitor's
x mortar pit in the baby flagship. For the armored troop carriers,
a 40-man troop compartment replaces the mortar pit and the forward gun
turret.
Several troop carriers have added a small helicopter pad,
the size of two ping-pong tables, above the troop level; sailors
refer to this craft as the smallest aircraft carrier in the world.
newest boat in the flotilla--built especially for Vietnam--is the
Assault Support Patrol Boat (ASPB), a 50-foot dwarfed destroyer
designed to escort the slower troop-carriers and to provide counter-
measures against enemy mines.
The
Unlike the Vietnamese gunboats, the American versions have
Rounds
a grating of trigger armor-like bars on a jail window-over the vulnerable
portions of the boat. This causes the Viet Cong recall recoiless rifleg
to point-detonate harmlessly on the outside of the vessel rather than
piercing the armor and throwing pellets over the troops inside. A four-
inch ring of syrofoam was also added along the waterline to absorb the
heat and pellets of Viet Cong weaponry. Other innovations for the Mobile
Riverine Force includes the only waterborne be battalion in the world,
which the Army invented when it has yet to find any solid river bank on
artillery
ip turo Six - gan batterie of husk -
which to drive the truck-towed batteries.
towed
105-mm. Hintzen.
(More)
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- Page 9
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[9]
Deepe..
mobile-Roge 9.
The Navy relied heavily on Vietnamese experience, not only
in boat design, but also in river tactics and lessons learned. In the
United States, a Pot Vietnamese lecturer taught the sailors about the
RESH
expected problems of the may water war. Before the American boats
arrived in Vietnam, the Vietnamese loaned loaned the U. S. Navy
their own vessels--a sort of lend-lease in reverse. In Vietnam,
American sailors fought, lived and worked with Vietnamese river crews
for two weeks, before starting to operate separately.
"I got a world of information from the Vietnamese
one American officer explained.
commander I accompanied,"
me how the Viet Cong ambush and where they ambush; how and
"He told
where they may mine you. I learned that sometimes the Viet Cong
let you pass by three or four times on the river, but they zap you the
fifth time. I learned to expect the unexpected everythane."
Another senior Naval commander explained, "The American
sailors, who had never sailed rivers in wartime, learned from the
Vietnamese how to make the rivers work for them, not against them, how
to handle the boats, learned the seamanship of tides and currents, the
ways of the
waterways and the lore of the rivers."
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- Page 10
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Deepe
mobile--page 10
[10]
The Mobile Riverine Force is as coordinated as during the American Civil
Two
War when the Army and Navy were working together "like to blades of a
pair of sheare.
#
"Everything we do the Army is coordinated and enmeshed,"
one senior Naval officer explained. "The Army wouldn't exist here without
the Navy and the Navy would have no purpose without the Army."
03
in the more earthy language of a young seaman, which
"The Doggies (Army)
the soldiers call "swabbies":
are happy with the
And we
good food, clean sheets and hot showers the Navy supplies.
sailors watch the Army marching up to its neck in mud and think 'Thank
God, wel we're in the Navy'."
Yet, the Mobile Riverine Force breaks one cardinal 20th
cet century military principle--unity of command.
No one o commander
calls the shots throughout the operations.
"The unity of command principle is completely violated,"
snerior Army officer explained. "There are two commands in this force.
There's no operational control for the whole force.
anxapaxatoenzhxordom
one
minmmyxxmmm
XBaMedxmxmamm The Army plans the sceme o scheme
of maneuver for the operation and then we ask the Navy if they will support
us.
So far, the Navy has always said yes.
I don't know what will happen
if it ever says no--then something has to give."
--------------------
- Page 11
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Doope
mobile-page 11.
River
[11]
This 20th-century Army-Navy marriage produced some of
the zaniest mad-ventures in recent military history. While all
American ei sailors and soldiers spoke English, they spoke different
technical dialects. Ship signs had to re-painted in both vocabularios
and terminologies defineds bow (front of the ship), passageway (hall),
galley (mess hall), souttlebutt (water fountain),
overhead (ceiling),
bulkhead (wall). Incoming Army officers were given orientation
briefings on Naval wardroom etiquettes no discussion of women or
politios and don't sit down before the ship's it captain. Considering
itself a "gentleman's service," the Navy quietly persuaded the
infantrymen to "hose down" the mud from their fatigues and boots
before boarding the ships. This was gar gradually extended to include
an Army officer searching the infantrymon for live ammunition before
floating
boarding the barracks, ships, a necessity dramatized when a shook-up
startled sailor found an Army grenade in the ship's washing machine.
A common complaint among the Army troopers was they could not drink
beer on the Navy ships-a traditional regulation on commissioned vessels.
An inter-service compromisoft, however, lead to a monthly bear party
on the off-ship, non-commissioned Navy pontoons-with the Army soldiers
being issued Army beer and the sailors, in a separate line, receiving
Navy-issued boor.
(More)
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- Page 12
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Deepe
mobile - Pojε12
+1912.
Humorous incidents and surprises were often the order of the
day. One Naval vessel was thrown into a turmoil when the crew discovered
a cobra aboard -- and it survived for two days as the Navy attempted to
freeze it, gas it and smoke it out with a fire extinguisher.
At least
"Request
The reply: "Permission granted if
one Army ground commander was heard to request over the radios
permission to kill a V.C. crocodile."
you can determine it's V.C." (It wasn't killed.) Soldiers began to
respect skin-piercing red ants, which they reported to be "Viet Cong
indoctrinated." The Army troopers started carrying cigarettes, pipes,
Bibles and maps in their helmets in order to keep them dry as they forged
swamps and streams. Some soldiers, when rivertops covered their helmets,
learned to hold their breath and walk along the river bottom until they
rose on the other side. Non-swimmers blew up their rubber air mattresses
And
nad paddled themselves across the river, along with the squad's ammunition.
Frequently, soldiers had to use ropes or sticks to pull their buddies out
of the chest-deep rice paddies; one G.I. had to be retrieved by grabbing
hold of a helicopter skid.
Move)
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Date
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1968, Jan. 30
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; United States. Army-Navy Mobile Riverine Force
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Location
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Aboard the USS Benewah, Mekong Delta, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.0634; 105.5943
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B8, F7
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Format
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dispatches
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Collector
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
-
Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
