The opinion, “From a logistics standpoint, this is by far the best and most managed war in which we have ever been involved,” voiced by one of our leading flag officers involved in logistics, may not be shared by everyone. But it is not likely to be disputed by any of the some one thousand officers and forty thousand bluejackets who have served in the largest Navy overseas shore command, the Naval Support Activity, Da Nang.
The establishment and functioning of the Naval Support Activity, Da Nang, is a unique chapter in the U. S. Navy’s proud history. The origin of NavSuppAct (or NSA), Da Nang, is well treated in Captain K. P. Huff’s article, published in the 1968 issue of the Naval Review.[1] I shall not attempt to improve on that portion of NSA’s history; rather, this article will attempt to highlight the accomplishments and events which make this logistic effort worth remembering. NSA Da Nang could well serve as a model for navy logisticians in future wars fought in terrain where shallow waterways are the preeminent lines of communication.
Administrative Relationships
During its five-year history, NSA Da Nang was commanded by one captain and five flag officers. The command relationship under which these officers operated was complex, dictated by the rather intricate command structure under which the war in Vietnam was prosecuted. Since Commander Naval Forces Vietnam was the naval component commander in Vietnam, ComNavSuppAct, Da Nang, reported to him as an operational subordinate. ComNavForV was also ComNavSuppAct, Da Nang’s, link in the chain of command with the Commander, U. S. Military Advisory Command, Vietnam.
In turn, the Da Nang support activity commander served as the NavForV representative for real estate matters in I Corps. Because ComNavSuppAct, Da Nang, was created to support the Third Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF), there was perforce a close relationship with the Commanding General, III MAF.
A good working relationship with the Vietnamese Joint General Staff in I Corps was also maintained though, except in real estate matters, the Admiral normally worked through III MAF headquarters when dealing with the Vietnamese I Corps commander. During 1969 with the implementation of the Accelerated Turnover To Vietnam (ACTOV) program, and as Vietnamization of the war began in earnest, this command relationship grew even more important.
A contemporary twist on the Golden Rule stipulates that “He who has the gold, rules.” This brings into focus the final link in the rather extensive command relationship: the Commander of the Service Force, U. S. Pacific Fleet. As the Commander-in-Chief, U. S. Pacific Fleet’s principal logistic agent, ComServPac controlled NSA Da Nang’s purse strings. Considering the size of Da Nang’s budget, it is easy to understand that the relationship with ServPac was an important one.
Internal Organization
If NavSuppAct’s external command relationships appear complex, its infrastructure was no simpler. Beginning with an amphibious command, Captain Huff’s Landing Ship Flotilla One staff (Task Group 76.4) was augmented as necessary and given the job of managing logistic support for the Marines at Da Nang. This forerunner of. NavSuppAct, Da Nang, was basically developed along the standard naval staff organization. However, rather than having the normal five or six divisions, plus special assistants, Rear Admiral Thomas Weschler, the first flag officer to command Da Nang, found it necessary to expand this to eleven divisions and special assistants. These department heads included public works, administration, operations and plans, medical, dental, communications, supply and fiscal, industrial relations (a civilian), enlisted personnel (commanding officer, Camp Tien Sha), first lieutenant (under whom came physical security and the fire marshal), and repair.
Special assistants included the legal officer, chaplain, public affairs officer, and civic action officer. In 1966, when Chu Lai was established, an additional link was added to the already broad scope of management control. The Officer-in-Charge Naval Support Activity Department (or NSAD) Chu Lai, was not a department head per se as he reported directly to the assistant chief-of-staff for operations and plans. But essentially he acted with the same powers since he had direct access to the Chief of Staff. Reporting to Admiral Weschler, when the Admiral was acting as Naval Forces Vietnam Representative (NavForVRep), was the base development officer, a senior captain of the Civil Engineer Corps. Since little organizational precedent existed for this particular mission, staff organization was an ad hoc affair in the beginning.
By 1968, tasks had sorted themselves out well enough to enable the Commander to create a more conventional Navy shore staff organization. Department heads were redesignated assistant chiefs of staff. The staff consisted of ACOS for administration, security and intelligence, operations, supply and fiscal, communications, public works, and plans. Special assistants included the repair officer, industrial relations officer, senior medical officer, dental officer, commanding officer enlisted personnel, base development officer, staff judge advocate, and the officers in charge of Chu Lai, Phu Bai-Hue, Tan My, Dong Ha-Cua Viet, and Sa Huynh.
Dynamic Growth
From its modest beginning on 24 April 1965, until Rear Admiral R. E. (Rojo) Adamson hauled down his flag on 30 June 1970, the Naval Support Activity, Da Nang, was a continuing example of dynamic growth and accomplishment. Established by the Navy of necessity rather than by choice, after the U. S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) confirmed it lacked the resources needed to operate in Da Nang, in addition to all the other ports and beaches in South Vietnam, NavSuppAct Da Nang began with a Marine landing over Red Beach in Da Nang harbor in 1965. It developed into a highly complex port with cargo clearance and storage facilities in Da Nang, and thriving cargo operations in Chu Lai, Hue-Tan My, Cua Viet-Dong Ha, Sa Huynh, and Quang Tri; additionally, it gave limited assistance in a logistics over the shore (LOTS) operation at Duc Pho. It grew from the handful of officers and men who began the original effort under Captain Huff’s able command, to approximately 450 officers and 10,000 bluejackets under Rear Admiral E. P. Bonner in 1969. Add to these figures a civilian work force of 69 U. S. and 5,888 local nationals, and then consider the civilian contractors, employees who, in November 1969, amounted to 725 local nationals and 513 third country nationals (mostly Korean) in the Korean Express cargo handing contract, and 1,251 local and 2,905 third country nationals plus 123 U. S. civilians in the Philco-Ford maintenance contract, and you get some idea of the scope of this mammoth Navy industrial complex.
The number of Support Activity people grew with support requirements. From its modest beginning at Red Beach in Da Nang, support facilities grew to what was then an unimagined extent. Da Nang’s early seaside facilities have been comprehensively described in Captain Huff’s article, so only the “outports” which substantially came into their own after he left will be considered here.
Sixty miles to the south, the Naval Support Activity Detachment at Chu Lai became a microcosm of the Da Nang operation. While never able to accommodate deep draft vessels, Chu Lai’s LST ramps became well developed and were expanded to accommodate six of the 542 or 1156 classes of LST. Navigational aids in the form of buoys and ranges were considerably improved, as was the depth of the channel which initially afforded only marginal conditions to LST skippers. The hard-topped ramps made it easier for vehicles to unload cargo and the all-weather road complex allowed rapid port clearance. With the major portion of Marine Air Wing One stationed at Chu Lai, fuel was a most important consideration. Compared with the initial “asault [sic] bulk stowage” in 10,000-gallon neopreme [sic] bladders, by early 1967 Chu Lai boasted a modern and commodious rigid-wall storage tank farm which was umbilically connected to its sea-borne source by bottom-laid sea load lines. While these lines were inoperative a significant portion of the time during the monsoon season, NSA Da Nang managed to keep up with fuel requirements, though at times it was touch and go, and required innovations such as sending a partially loaded T-2 tanker or one of Da Nang’s YOGs into Cus Ho Ramp to pump cargo directly into Marine refuellers for shuttle to the flight line.
Hue-Tan My Facilities
The NSAD at Hue-Tan My, 30 miles north of Da Nang, began with an LCU ramp near the University of Hue in the downtown area and a bladder fuel farm at the coastal Vietnamese recreation area of Tan My, near the Col Co causeway, in late spring 1966. Initially all cargo had to be cleared as soon as discharged at Hue, since there were no facilities for staging or security. Fuel was delivered to the assault stowage containers by way of a four-inch amphibious assault hose, but this regularly parted or became tangled in its marker buoy moorings. All these shortcomings were overcome by the building of the LST facility (four LST ramps) at Tan My, the installation of the overland six-inch pipeline from Tan My to Phu Bai and Quang Tri, and completion of rigid stowage tank facilities with a combined capacity of 5.7 million gallons.
Dong Ha Facility Created
Operations Hastings and Prairie in the summer of 1966 marked the beginning of major operations by the U. S. Marines in Northern I Corps Tactical Zone (ICTZ). From battalion to regimental to divisional size, tactical activity in this area adjacent to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) grew steadily, requiring complementary growth in support from Da Nang. At first, tactical headquarters for this new offensive was centered in Dong Ha, where the Marine combat base was established. Dong Ha differed from Da Nang in that it was located inland. It differed from Chu Lai because of its lack of a sufficiently large waterway to accommodate an LST, and from Tan My because of its significant distance from Da Nang. It was about 90 miles by open sea from Da Nang to the mouth of the Cua Viet River,[2] which was destined to become the lifeline for the Dong Ha combat bases. Discovering that an LCU could penetrate the twisting, silt-filled waterway, NS A committed itself to relieve the overworked C-130s which skillful Marine pilots had flown in endless succession to keep Operation Hastings supported.
Occasionally LCM-8s were pressed into service on the open sea convoy leg of this supply run, though they were inadequate to cope with the seas when the monsoon season set in. The ramp at Dong Ha, adjacent to the concrete bridge which continues the Vietnamese Route One north across the Cua Viet River, was about three-fourths of a mile from the sprawling base and air field, from which the Third Marine Division operated. Originally graded to serve as a climb-out ramp for LARCs, which were used to unload anchored LCUs or YFUs,[3] the ramp was eventually widened to accommodate up to six LCUs and boasted a sizeable hard surfaced area which was illuminated at night.
Cua Viet LST Ramp Conceived
During the fall of 1966, it became apparent that the LCU chain from Da Nang was going to be inadequate to keep the Marines at Dong Ha supplied. The transit, which took the older boats from 10 to 12 hours in good weather in convoy, lengthened to 24 or even 36 hours when the northeast monsoon created 10-16 foot swells. There just weren’t enough LCUs in Da Nang to do the job. Pressed by Lieutenant General L. E. Walt, Commanding General of III MAF, Rear Admiral Weschler decided that if ammo by the LCU load was not enough to feed the Marines’ guns, the Navy would have to move it in LSTs. LSTs could not navigate the Song Thach Han and Song Hieu Giang (collectively referred to as the Cua Viet), but it appeared feasible to dredge the bar at the mouth of the Cua Viet to permit the entry of LSTs. The latter then could discharge their cargo for transhipment up the final seven miles to the Dong Ha ramp by LCU or LCM-8. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers civilian-manned hopper dredge Hyde was brought up from the Delta to finish the 15-foot deep channel[4] which was started by the small Canadian suction dredge Helbar and her predecessor, a drag line run from a DeLong pier. Between them, the Helbar and the drag line succeeded in scratching out a channel through the bar to permit entry of the hopper dredge. Opened 15 March 1967, NSAD Cua Viet grew to a sizeable organization which, when the occasion demanded, worked around the clock unloading the beached LSTs. River operations, because of hostile fire and lack of navigational aids, ceased at dusk. Air cover was effective during the day so that vessels could sail up to Dong Ha in comparative safety. A four-inch assault line was replaced by a six-inch sea load line, and eventually, when this line became inoperative because of weather,[5] the AOGs which furnished the fuel flow would steam into the Cua Viet estuary, where there was some protection from the weather, and pump directly to the beach bladder.
As action in northern ICTZ became more intensive, the Song Thach Han was reconnoitered by Commander Hal Barker, plans officer for Rear Admiral Paul Lacy who had succeeded Admiral Weschler. The establishment of a supply line to Quang Tri appeared feasible, and in 1968 it became a reality.
Sa Huynh Established
Late in 1966, U. S. MACV became concerned by the relative sanctuary which the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces enjoyed in the southern portion of ICTZ. The First and Third Marine divisions were stretched as thin as they could be and still permit them to accomplish their mission to the north, so it was decided to bring in a provisional Army division from one of the southern Corps areas. Due Pho, in Quang Ngai Province approximately 100 miles south of Da Nang, was chosen as the center of this new area of operations. Logistic requirements to the north initially precluded NSA from supporting this operation other than by providing facilities to land cargo over the beach. A pontoon causeway, reefer barge, and assault pipeline were installed to assist the Army to become established. Later, in 1967-68, as the Army presence in southern I Corps became more extensive, NSA Da Nang established Naval Support Activity Detachment, Sa Huynh. Since Sa Huynh was at the southern boundary of ICTZ, about 65 miles south of Chu Lai, the Navy could now boast detachments from border to border of I Corps.
A lesser known, but nevertheless important, operation by NSA was the operation of the Liberty Road Ferry. This consisted of an LCM-8, which operated as a ferry across the Song Thu Bon to the south of Da Nang keeping the important Da Nang to An Hoa overland Line of Communication (LOC) open. Getting the LCM-8-860 up the shallow Song Thu Bon from the South China Sea in mid-1966 was a hazardous and exciting transit protected by the Marines in the area. In February 1967 the Seabees completed a bridge and the ferry was no longer needed.
I Corps Military Expansion
From the small force of Marines which landed in the spring of 1965, the U. S. military population grew to more than 205 thousand men in August 1968. These troops depended on the Naval Support Activity for everything from ordnance to soft drinks and beer, from concertina wire and sand bags to skivvies and boot daubing.
In measuring the NSA’s achievements throughout its five-year history, there would probably be as many different views of the priority of accomplishment as there were people making the evaluation. Nevertheless, few would deny that the movement of cargo comes at the top of the list. Following close behind would be the development of ports and of land lines of communication; the construction and maintenance of facilities; and the development of a fuel network sufficient to provide fuel for jet aircraft, for trucks and equipment, and for the hundreds of propeller aircraft which supported the forces in ICTZ. Finally, the building of medical facilities, the salvage of ships and craft, and the conducting of civic action programs rank as important activities.
Facilities in Da Nang continued to expand and improve as the stateside pipeline began to respond to requirements. The deep draft Thong Nhat piers (sometimes called the Allied piers) resembled a busy stateside port, as staging areas were enlarged and additional port clearance equipment became available. Increased LST tonnage was handled at the Tien Sha, Bridge, Museum, and Ferry ramp cargo facilities. Ashore, in addition to the accomplishments so well described in Captain Charles J. Merdinger’s[6] comprehensive article on the Seabees’ phenomenal work, the scope of NSA logistics widened to include a milk plant operated by Foremost Dairy Products, which in addition to milk, provided all U. S. servicemen in I Corps with cottage cheese and ice cream. Common User Land Transportation (CULT) plus vehicle and machinery maintenance, utility provision, construction, and road building functions kept the Navy and contractors well occupied. Bulk storage, covered storage, and refrigerated storage were expanded from a few thousand square feet to acres.
Perhaps a better feeling for the magnitude of the expansion can be achieved when one considers that in Da Nang the supply depot space increased from approximately 33 thousand square feet of covered storage in 1965 to over 900 thousand square feet in 1969, from none to over 500 thousand cubic feet of refrigerated storage, and from very little to over two million, seven hundred thousand square feet of open storage. Package and bulk fuel storage expanded from about 40 thousand gallons to accommodate more than 50 million gallons of JP-4, aviation, diesel, and motor vehicle fuel.
Another clue to the scope of industrial activity is the size of the budget, which grew from approximately 41 million dollars in FY 1967 to 102 million dollars in FY 1969. Over half of this operating and maintenance budget was used in the mammoth public works program sponsored by NSA Da Nang.
Never did a single Navy industrial complex operate as many boats and craft as did NSA Da Nang. Starting in December of 1965, with 12 LCUs or YFUs, 16 LCM-8s, 10 LCM-6s, 2 LCM-3s, and 8 YCs, all of which, save the YCs, were amphibious force assets, the Da Nang navy grew to number over two hundred and fifty craft, which included not only the types mentioned above, but floating cranes, self-propelled water barges, reefer barges, YTLs, YTMs (pulled out of the mothball fleet in mid-1966), YTBs, AFDLs, YRs, LARCs (acquired from the Army), LCPLs, and finally, the new Skilaks (Eskimo for “strange craft”), a commercial coastal cargo vessel designed for the Alaska trade. The Skilaks represented a significant improvement over the LCUs.
By December of 1968, the self-propelled lighterage inventory alone had increased from that enumerated above to 11 Skilaks (each estimated as being worth two and a half LCUs or YFUs), 42 LCUs or YFUs, 46 LCM-8s, and 36 LCM-6s and LCM-3s. It is easy to understand why the Support Activity required the highest density of qualified boat masters of any activity in the Navy during this period. The allotment of cargo hauling and handling machinery also kept pace with the increased transfer of goods. Material handling equipment and especially the rough-terrain forklifts which Captain Huff spoke of as being difficult to keep in operation owing to an inadequate supply of spare parts, finally achieved an acceptable maintenance level.
Moving Cargo
Captain Huff’s group, during the period prior to NSA Da Nang’s formal establishment in October of 1965, moved cargo in an amount sufficient to keep the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force (as it was originally identified) supported. The 35 thousand measurement tons handled at Da Nang in July of 1965 seems modest indeed when compared to nearly 471 thousand measurement tons handled in September of 1969. During the same September, Dong Ha reported over 47 thousand MT, Chu Lai had 86,195 MT, Hue and Tan My received 54,423 MT, and Sa Huynh reported 3,088 MT. The progressive growth of Da Nang’s cargo handling capacity can be observed in the following average monthly figures: 135,500 short tons in 1966, 198,300 ST in 1967, 333,300 ST in 1968, followed by a decline in 1969, as the withdrawal began, to 320,400 ST.[7]
The very early calculation of the contemporary need to move a ton of cargo per man per day (if considered in the context of freight terminal men) was significantly exceeded during the last six months of Rear Admiral Adamson’s tour in 1970, at which time the average amount of cargo moved per man per day was 3.25 ST.
Initially, all-Navy cargo handling teams were used, because of the scarcity of Vietnamese stevedores. Commander NSA Da Nang had a tight rope to walk in forestalling any accusation of pirating from the inadequate local labor pool. Yet he had to acquire the stevedores to cope with the ever-expanding flow of cargo through the military port of Da Nang. The shortage of labor was met by the twelve-hour workday which each American sailor worked for seven days a week. Two round-the-clock shifts kept cargo moving ashore prior to the formal dedication of the Thong Nhat piers on 15 October 1966 (which was, coincidentally, the first anniversary of NSA Da Nang).
Working ships at the pier, which reduced the double handling that lighterage demanded, was an inestimable boost in cargo handling. Soon many Vietnamese who were not employed by the local commercial port were hired, and their training was accomplished in record time. While the Vietnamese were unable to work the same long day as their American counterparts, their ten-hour day helped the Navy effort at a time when increasing pressure was being brought to bear to reduce, where possible, the manpower drain which NSA Da Nang made on Fleet resources.
To add more manpower, in mid-1966 the Commander of the Naval Support Activity, Da Nang, entered into a contract with the Korean Express Stevedoring Company (KEKN). On 19 August 1966, Korean Express unloaded its first ship. The realization of the terms of their contract, which called for them to unload a minimum of 70 thousand MT monthly took some time, while the hard working Koreans were getting sufficiently organized. During Rear Admiral Lacy’s tour (February 1967 to February 1968), 25 fifteen-man Vietnamese hatch crews had been engaged to augment the handling of the increased tonnage.
Developing the Port of Da Nang
Before the navy was assigned to give logistic support in I Corps, Da Nang (or Tourane as it was called by the French) had had little to offer in the way of port facilities. The small commercial port which Da Nang boasted was limited in both size and depth of channel. Storage and modern material handling equipment were also very limited. When the build up in I CTZ began, it was obvious that port facilities would have to expand rapidly.
Many who lived through the first monsoon season, after the Thong Nhat piers were put into commission, cursed the location. As operations officer in the year 1966-67, I was among the cursers. The harbor is a very large natural roadstead, but unfortunately its entrance from the South China Sea is to the northeast, and of course Da Nang’s location, above the bend of Vietnam, causes it to be most susceptible to the northeast monsoon. As the winds began to blow, normally in October, the piers stood completely exposed to the rigors of the high swells which came in at heights which belied belief. Ships lying at their berths would be picked up and banged against the piers, doing damage to both ship and pier. The vertical movement of the ship caused by the swells during these storms normally prevented the hatch teams from working the ships. It was then necessary to get a pilot aboard quickly, and shift the ship to an anchorage before damage occurred.
Nevertheless, those who made the decision on the location of these piers had very little choice. From the standpoint of port clearance, Thong Nhat was the most suitable spot for it was accessible by road and had adequate room for staging and expansion. Two 600-foot steel-framed and steel-jacketed piers, as well as one DeLong pier, furnished sufficient space to accommodate the deep draft ships. Ironically, the DeLong pier, which had been towed in from Thailand to accelerate deep draft pier availability for Da Nang cargo operations, was not ready for cargo handling until several months after the conventional piers were being worked. The contractor was delayed in finishing the pier because the materials needed were slow in arriving.
Roads between NSA’s covered storage and that of the Marine’s Force Logistic Command (FLC), were widened and hard surfaced to accommodate the heavy trucks and “semis” with which NSA’s freight terminal division accomplished port clearance.
Since heavy reliance for moving goods in-country was placed on small ships and boats, LST ramps were established at these points in Da Nang: the Ferry Landing across from the Da Nang Hotel, the Museum Ramp, adjacent to the Cham Museum on the same side of the river as the NSA headquarters building (the White Elephant), and at the Bridge-Cargo complex, which could accommodate LSTs, as well as LCUs or YFUs and barges. In addition, there were ramps for LSTs, LCUs, or YFUs on the Tien Sha Peninsula, just southeast of the deep water piers. The last named were the best located with relation to NSA’s vast covered storage complex because trucks were not obliged to pass through the heavy traffic in the city.
Harbor Improvements. The channel in the Da Nang River (Song Han) from the harbor to the Bridge-Cargo complex was dredged to about 18 feet to permit the passage of 1156 class LSTs at any tidal stage. A channel was also dredged eastward from the northernmost end of the main breakwater to Tien Sha cove to permit passage of YOs, YWs, YTBs, and even LSTs to the Small Craft Repair Facility (SCRF). This facility was established in 1967 to take care of the many ship and craft repairs associated with Da Nang’s large fleet. Navigational buoys were installed to replace the makeshift oil-drum buoys for which the Vietnamese had such a penchant. Lighted ranges on the river made it possible for LSTs to sail at night.
[Map of Da Nang and environs]
By 1967, Red Beach, where the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) had landed in 1965, boasted a ten-section causeway with a special, seven-can-wide “T” shaped turn around section on the seaward end. Since this causeway provided a convenient transfer point for bulky and oddsized construction material, such as pipe, pilings, and lumber, destined for either the 30th Naval Construction Regiment Yard or the Marine FLC dump, in good weather LSTs were normally assigned the Red Beach Causeway for loading. The “T” shaped turn-around sections on the end of the causeway permitted trucks to drive out on the causeway instead of backing out, and then turn-around to back into the LSTs for their loads. This saved much time and anxiety, particularly with green drivers. Unfortunately, the causeway could not be used during the northeast monsoon season.
Sea Load Lines. Ten and twelve-inch sea load fuel lines were extended both in Da Nang Harbor and seaward off China Beach. Since there were no tanker piers in any of the I Corps ports, these bottom-lay lines made the difference in being able to supply the needed fuel which, in December 1968, amounted to 1,700 thousand gallons per day.
Land Communication. A look at the means of land transportation in I Corps explains why sea lines of communication played such a very important part in the logistic effort. With the exception of South Vietnam’s main north-south artery, Route I, Bernard Fall’s “Street Without Joy,” roads adequate for logistic support of a military operation of the scope of the Marine effort in I Corps do not exist. Why was the railroad, which so closely parallels Route One, not used? Partly because it was only a narrow-gauge railroad. More importantly, it was hard to keep open. One has but to look at the terrain to appreciate the vulnerability of both the highway and the railroad. Together, Route One and the railroad probably include more trestles and bridges per road mile than any other roadbed in the world. Keeping either in commission continuously taxed both the Seabees and the Marine Corps Engineer companies. Nonetheless, the railroad, which had been essentially abandoned to the Viet Cong since the French threw in the towel in Vietnam, was a project which early in its existence NSA planned to press back into service. Japanese manufactured freight, flat, and gondola cars arrived in country in the spring of 1967, but the railroad was not opened even for limited use until Rear Admiral E. P. Bonner’s tour (December 1968-December 1969), when it was opened between Da Nang, Phu Bai and Hue, with the first logistically significant load being a cargo of drummed fuel delivered to Phu Bai.
By this time the railroad had little military significance, however, since the water lines of communication had been well established. It never offered much assistance in cargo movement. Its primary employment was to carry civilian passengers and goods.
The Development of the “Outports”
Chu Lai, the second most important port in I Corps by virtue of population and the lack of an alternative supply route, also went through a massive growth program[.] By the spring of 1967, the Chu Lai channel was dredged to the extent that YOGs and even coastal freighters could get into the harbor, although until the quaywall was completed later that year, they could do nothing more than anchor in the tiny Truong Giang estuary. Tides and currents were very strong at Chu Lai, so that, except in an emergency, ships entered and exited only with the favorable tides.
Port and industrial activity at Chu Lai resembled a mini-Da Nang, and the small expeditionary force which opened the operation in the spring of 1966 grew to over 1,000 naval officers and men. The buoyant four- inch assault hose, which first supplied fuel for all the machinery, was replaced with eight- and twelve-inch sea load lines. Because they were exposed to the northeast monsoon, the pipelines were often inoperative during the stormy season. Most commonly, the flex hoses, which made the hook-up to the tanker, were torn up by bad weather. If the line stopped functioning, YOGs would come right into the Truong Giang estuary at Chu Lai during the period 1966-67 and pump directly to marine refuelers.
NSAD Cua Viet Established. In the spring of 1967, after the long and eventful dredging experiences at Cua Viet (which included two explosions in the small Canadian dredge Helbar and the loss of the chartered tug Saun Maru, which was used to shift the DeLong pier dredging platforms around) the river entrance basin was opened to LSTs. The first two to enter, on 15 March 1967, were the USS Caroline County (LST-525) and the USS Snohomish County (LST-1126). The ramp could accommodate two of the large amphibious vessels, though for security reasons two were not normally scheduled on the ramp at any one time. Within range of North Vietnamese artillery and rockets, it was not good business to place that many eggs in one basket. The ramp area at Cua Viet, first covered by Marston matting, was given a soil cement hardpan in mid-1967. A steel pile bulkhead was driven adjacent to the LST ramp to accommodate the rock barges which made frequent trips from Da Nang. Cua Viet was transformed from a beautiful, white, unoccupied, sandy beach into an ugly, but thriving cantonment of plywood huts and mess halls, a small boat repair facility, and a sizeable bladder fuel farm. The last was at first supplied by a four-inch bottom-lay line from a buoy offshore and later by a rigid six-inch sea load line.
[Map of the Cua Viet River and tributaries]
For two years, boats transferring goods to Dong Ha or Quang Tri from Cua Viet, were able to use that river practically unmolested. But after NSAD Cua Viet was finished, “Charlie” and the North Vietnamese Army came to life and began to harass our riverine logistic forces. The enemy made navigation of the river at night impossible, and in 1968 and 1969 he attacked the supply vessels in daylight.
Sufficient staging areas to accommodate an LST’s load of cargo were available at the Cua Viet Ramp. Since this was a transhipping point only, cargo stayed in the staging area only long enough to be loaded into a smaller craft for the seven mile trip up river to Dong Ha. Normally forklifts moved cargo directly from LSTs to river lighters when the latter were available.
Fuel was transported up the river to Dong Ha in bladder boats (LCM-8s equipped with 10 thousand gallon bladders) and then when adequate numbers of Ammi pontoons became available, in those infinitely safer containers. The half-submerged sections were propelled by warping tug power units.
Fuel delivered to Dong Ha ramp was pumped overland for the remaining mile to the local Combat Base tank farm through four-inch hoses. At first the Marine Shore Party handled the unloading at the Dong Ha ramp, working from dawn to dusk. As Dong Ha and Cua Viet were expanded, and an increased Navy personnel allowance was approved, NSA Da Nang relieved the Marines of port clearance and began round-the-clock operations when they were required to remove any backlog remaining at the end of the day.
Tan My. Tan My was the potential site of a super-logistic complex which never quite materialized. It served as NSA’s control point for river traffic dispatched to Hue or Phu Bai and consisted of a bladder fuel farm manned by Marines, a security unit, and the small NSA detachment cadre which ran the communications van providing liaison between NSA Da Nang and the Hue city ramp. By mid-1967 the detachment had two separate ports groups, one an augmented unit at Tan My which took over all logistic support for the Marine security and fuel farm personnel, and the other a stevedoring group at the new Hue city ramp. The latter were berthed with the Seabee detachment at Phu Bai. Fuel, which heretofore had come to Phu Bai via Hue by tank truck over the narrow and tenuously controlled road from Col Co causeway at Tan My, was eventually delivered by six-inch pipeline laid above ground from Tan My to Phu Bai.
Because dredges were scarce in Vietnam, dredging on the LST port at Tan My could not be started until completion of the Cua Viet channel to the north. But by 1968 it was a reality. Dredging at Tan My consisted of cutting a channel which ran parallel to the surf line inside an offshore sandbar, then digging out a turning basin inside the natural lagoon which served as a runoff area for the Huong, or Perfume, River. The obviously undesirable orientation of the channel was dictated by the lagoon’s opening to the sea.
Dam Sam Plan Abandoned. Early in 1967 plans for a large logistic complex on the Dam Sam were made. This included a deep water port and a combined tactical and logistic airfield with complete warehousing facilities and access roads, which would perforce be carved through rice paddies and swamp. Mui San, which represents the apex of the land extending into Dam Sam, was to be the depot site. A new deep water channel was to be cut through the narrow strip of land southeast of the NSAD, Tan My, cantonment. The high cost estimate for this undertaking caused its abandonment and the alternate Col Co development plan was implemented.
Duc Pho. In the spring of 1967, when the Army proposed plans to insert troops in the Duc Pho district of Quang Ngai Province, approximately 60 miles south of Chu Lai, the Naval Support Activity at Da Nang made known to the Army many misgivings about the logistic feasibility of such a move. The operation could not be supported overland from Da Nang because of the very poor roads. Sea support in a straight Logistics over the Shore (LOTS) operation was feasible during the non-monsoon season; however, it appeared out of the question once the October-March monsoon storms began because the beach was completely unsheltered.
NSA operations personnel, which included UDT men, reconnoitered candidate coves up and down the coast between Chu Lai and Sa Huynh. The only site that appeared suitable for development into a port was Sa Huynh, almost on the southern border of I CTZ. A natural lagoon with the odiferous name of Dam Nuoc Man (Nuoc Man is the name of a strongly scented condiment made of fermented fish juice) had an opening to the south. While the lagoon was shallow and surveys indicated that LCUs would have a narrow channel to thread to get into the lagoon from the South China Sea, it appeared that a little dredging would make it suitable as an “outport.” The shallow water in the lagoon created tidal flats, which made this a natural salt farm, and the VC had long before staked their claim to it. Nonetheless, it appeared that the small island of Sa Huynh could be developed sufficiently to support the southern I Corps operation.
Tight dredge resources, and the deceptive ease with which the Army was able to support itself logistically directly over the beach with MSTS-manned LSTs, during summer when weather was not a factor, combined to defer establishing Sa Huynh during 1967. However, the monsoon season in 1967 removed all doubt that only with development of a port at Sa Huynh would the Quang Ngai Province operation be successful on a year-round basis. And so, Sa Huynh was established as NSA Da Nang’s southernmost activity. It had LCU ramps and roads from the sea terminus to the Army area of operations. A four-inch sea load line was installed at Duc Pho and an assault fuel farm was built to store the fuel. As can be readily imagined, the sea in Duc Pho’s open roadstead played havoc with this line during the monsoon.
[Map of the Perfume River and NSADs Tan My and Hue]
Storing and Delivering Fuel
Fuel in I Corps was delivered ashore by pipes from the sea. The development phase in such a system normally was carried out by men from an amphibious construction battalion who would float ashore a buoyant four-inch system. These lines, temporary installations at best, take both skill and effort to install. Their main drawback is that they are easily damaged by boats and by surf; their advantage is that they can be streamed from LCMs and so installed very quickly.
The buoyant lines were replaced as rapidly as possible by rigid steel pipe lines on the sea bottom which were pulled out from the beach by an LCU equipped with an “A” frame, designated an LCU(F). The seaward end would be anchored with substantial concrete clumps; a flexible “pigtail” completed the rig. A mooring buoy was anchored at the end of it to serve, both as a marker for the seaward end of the line, and to provide the AOG, which was used to fuel all the outports except Chu Lai,[8] a place to moor and thus avoid inadvertent anchoring on, and consequent pulling up of, the pipe when getting underway. These rigs worked well during the calm seas of the summer months, but failed from time to time after the start of the monsoon season. The ten- and twelve-inch lines installed at Chu Lai and Da Nang withstood the storms somewhat better than the eight-inch lines first used, though their sea ends also fell victim to the high winds and sea, which prevailed from October through March.
At Phu Bai, which supported the intensive campaign north of Da Nang and was the headquarters of the 3rd Marine Division, the fuel situation became critical enough to warrant the installation of a “Swivel-Top” or Mono Buoy. This was an extremely large buoy measuring 30 feet in diameter and 13 feet in depth. Securely moored off Tan My by eight 12,000 pound “Stato anchors,”[9] it had the sea ends of two eight-inch sea load lines coming up through the buoy and terminating in a swiveling goose neck connection on top. Two eight-inch flexible hoses were attached to the goose neck to complete the hook up rig for an oiler to pump its product ashore. The hoses were equipped with flotation rings which kept them afloat when not in use to prevent their tangling in the mooring chains. Unfortunately, this flotation gear was not monsoon-proof and the answer to keeping them afloat was eventually found in the use of buoyant hoses. The cost, ($300 thousand each) precluded initial installation of these buoys in Da Nang and Chu Lai, but when the Marine action shifted north of Da Nang, the buoy’s value was reconsidered. In September 1969, one was installed at Tan My. In retrospect, considering the men and equipment which were tied up in repair of the line after a monsoon storm, the buoy would doubtlessly have been an excellent investment at Chu Lai also. And, of course, one must add to these costs the Commander’s anxiety over the possibility of being unable to support the fuel requirements for the Chu Lai area. Never during the length of his tour, Rear Admiral Lacy asserted, did he feel completely comfortable about the future fuel supply in I Corps.
Ship Salvage
Monsoon storms exacted their toll from the Navy support effort not only in fuel lines but also in ships. Probably one of the least publicized aspects of NSA’s work was that done in the salvage of vessels. NSA had no salvage tugs or salvage divers in its organization. Harbor Clearance Unit One, which assisted in clearing a hulk near Museum ramp and in the attempted salvage and ultimate clearance of the USS Mahnomen County (LST-912) at Chu Lai, belonged to ComNavForV. But the weather did not pay attention to our organization and each year it demanded, and got, a considerable salvage effort from us. Christmas week of 1966 was an example.
On Christmas Eve morning, Da Nang received the word from the detachment at Dong Ha that its warping tug, which had been sent up to salvage the four-inch bottom lay line, had gone aground just north of the channel leading into the Cua Viet. Thus far local salvage efforts had failed. The Luzon Stevedoring Company’s diesel tug Tiburon, under charter to NSA, was ordered to proceed to Cua Viet to salvage the warping tug. The Filipino skipper and crew, with the placid resignation which mariners develop about such things, headed north from Da Nang. The following morning, Captain Jim Linville, Assistant Chief of Staff, Operations and Plans, for NSA Da Nang, flew up to Dong Ha to see how our bluejackets were faring during their first Christmas under the shadow of the DMZ. As he flew north from Tan My, he noted what appeared to be a vessel in distress. He directed the pilot of NSA’s “gooney bird” to make a sweep over the vessel. Sure enough, it was the Tiburon, in trouble. En route north, the Tiburon had grounded in the coastal shallows and the wind and sea had done the rest. Continuing his flight to Dong Ha, the Captain relayed the news of the tug’s trouble to Da Nang. The word was passed to the Coast Guard, which sent an 82-foot WPB from Market Time Operations nearby. An LCU was also dispatched to the scene. A line was passed to the stricken vessel. Unfortunately, a monsoon storm developed at the same time. Lines parted and waves became too high for the two small rescue vessels to continue their work. Under the merciless pounding of the waves the Tiburon was driven into the beach and finally rolled over on her side. Grabbing the ship’s log and any personal belongings they could stuff into their clothing, the captain and crew abandoned their ship and swam into the beach through the surf. Shivering from the cold, they were plucked from the unfriendly beach by a Marine helicopter sent from Phu Bai. The following day I flew up to Phu Bai and thence to the beach about 10 miles north of Tan My where the Pacific fleet salvage officer and I swam out to the Tiburon, which, by this time, had been turned by the swells so that her bow pointed seaward. She still lay flat on her starboard side, as she was when abandoned by the crew. Her position made salvage attempts impractical. The company accepted the navy’s recommendation and abandoned the tug. For at least the following year, she served as a reminder to all who flew north from Da Nang to Cua Viet of the fury and uncertainty of the sea. Ironically, the warping tug, which the Tiburon had been sent to rescue, was pulled off the shoal by an LCU the next day.
[Map of NSAD Sa Huynh and environs]
Two days later Da Nang had a bit of a blow. The Harbor Entrance Control Post advised ships anchored in the southeastern part of the harbor to check their position carefully to guard against dragging. One ship in particular, the Coastal Trader, on a General Agency Agreement charter, appeared to be getting set down toward the beach by the wind and swells. The following morning the Master sent out word that he was aground in a soft mud bank. The one NSA YTB, several pusher boats, and a couple of YTLs were all sent to pull the freighter out. After much tugging and twisting, the stranded merchantman floated free and was pulled to a safe anchorage. The next day word was received that the LCU-1493 had gone aground about ten miles south of the Cua Viet. A LARC and a YFU from Dong Ha were dispatched to assist the stricken vessel. Two days of skillful efforts finally freed this craft, permitting her to resume her trip north. The rescue was not without its cost, however. The LARC, then under tow by the LCU, because of engine failure, slowly filled with water and sank.
The Loss of the USS Mahnomen County. The climax to this turbulent week occurred on New Year’s Day during the midwatch, when the USS Mahnomen County (LST-912) parted with her anchor off Chu Lai while waiting for better weather so she could enter and discharge her one thousand-ton cargo of cement. Before the main engines could be brought on the line, a combination of high winds, mounting seas and a uniquely high tide picked the hapless LST up and deposited her on a rock shelf adjacent to the MAG-36 helo pad. Salvage efforts were begun the next morning with the discharge of the cement over the stricken T’s side. Elements of HCU One were flown down to Chu Lai to begin the salvage. The best efforts of three ATFs and an ASR pulling in concert were unable to dislodge her. It was puzzling, as well as disheartening, to witness all the effort exerted to dislodge the ship from her perch, and yet to see no evidence of movement. Later, when the seas calmed down sufficiently, divers were able to discover the reason for the failure in their salvage scheme. The LST had settled down on three rock pinnacles which had penetrated her bottom and they sealed her fate. Efforts were made to cut the hull in two and tow the ship off as a bow and stern section. Salvage efforts were finally determined to be futile and the ship was cut down to the second deck. The first reason was to remove any hazard to aircraft, but the strongest motive was to make less conspicuous a U. S. naval vessel wrecked on the coast of South Vietnam.
The Dredge Hyde Mining Incident. The Hyde was one of the operational anomalies of the logistic organization in I Corps. The Army at sea working for the Navy on land. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge Hyde was the first vessel working for NSA to fall casualty to enemy action. Steadily engaged in dredging the Cua Viet bar to permit the entrance of LSTs in this most northerly NSA outpost, the Hyde was the victim of two limpet mines placed on the starboard bow and port quarter, respectively, on 9 May 1967. The bow mine exploded first at about 0400 on 9 May 1967, whereupon the quick-thinking mate on watch cooly dumped his hopper of sand and headed the dredge into the south bank, where he beached the sturdily constructed vessel. Two hours later, the second charge detonated. Fortunately, the dredge, with sand dumped, had lost three feet of draft and the charge blew a hole about the size of a grapefruit in the ship’s counter row above the water. Minor damage was done to the after steering machinery room. The hole in the bow was a different matter. It was seven feet long by four feet high and allowed the flooding of a ballast tank, the bosun locker, paint locker, carpenter shop, and sail locker. A cofferdam was placed over the hole into the working spaces, and a layer of cement was laid over the hole in the paint locker deck. A piece of quarter-inch boiler plate was welded over the skin of the ship to serve as a fairwater, and, within thirty-six hours, the intrepid dredge and her undaunted Master, Captain James Bartell, were resuming their slow but steady assault on the sand which formed the river entrance bar.
The USS Coconino County (LST-603) was the first major naval ship to suffer from the hands of enemy swimmers in the I Corps Tactical Zone. Mined while on the ramp at Cua Viet on 29 June 1967, the “lucky Coco” was towed back to Da Nang for patching by the Small Craft Repair Facility, before being towed to Guam for final repairs.
Civic Action
Although not specifically charged with Civic Action in its original charter, NSA assigned men to that job with the necessary equipment. It was a good investment in the country of South Vietnam, especially when one considers the stark destruction of war. The first big effort was in the establishment of Civic Action Teams, or CATS. CATS were composed of skilled petty officers who volunteered to live in the hamlets with the Vietnamese and assist them in myriad projects ranging from building schools and digging wells to just plain instruction in sanitation and hygienic improvements. The accomplishments of these dedicated men were most impressive.[10] By living with the people they sought to help, they helped to dispel the suspicion, distrust, and resentful feeling among the villagers that they were charity cases, which are not uncommon to people of less developed areas. When the rocket and mortar attacks occurred, NSA CATS took their lumps with the villagers, and then were the first out of the shelters to begin the rebuilding.
The work of the CATS or VATS (Village Action Teams) had a strong appeal to NSA officers and sailors, and more and more of them succeeded in contributing to the program on their own time. Volunteer sick calls, city beautification projects, clothing distribution, and the like sprang up as a result of the generosity which lies in the hearts of all Americans when faced with the plight of the less fortunate. During July 1967, some 273 projects were completed by CATS involving the building of 60 classrooms, 19 hamlet offices, and 275 houses.
The training of Vietnamese civilians in basic skills became a very valuable adjunct to the work of the CATS. Auto repair and sewing were two of the most popular and productive classes. These and many other vocational training opportunities assisted the local people to aspire to personal improvement. Sanitary conditions at Da Nang were greatly enhanced by the garbage disposal system organized by NSA. Streets and alleys, once rife with garbage, were once again negotiable without the former stench. Fire protection was another mutually benefitting civic action provided by the Support Activity.
In 1969, when the Accelerated Turnover to Vietnamese (ACTOV) began in earnest, the training program, begun as a matter of Civic Action, was converted into a Navy training program to equip the Vietnamese to operate the marine craft, vehicles, and electronic equipment which were being transferred to Vietnamese military personnel.
Small Craft Repair Facility
No account of the achievements of the support activity at Da Nang would be complete without describing the work of the Small Craft Repair Facility (SCRF). At first the SCRF was a branch of the operations department, but by mid-1966 it was accorded department status. The engineering and repair division, forerunner of the SCRF, was organized in January of 1966 and consisted of two officers and 22 men, one LCM work boat, and three sections of pontoon causeway. By that April, the repair section expanded to include a YR, an AFDL, and a YFND.[11] These craft were originally positioned in the southeastern section of Da Nang Harbor. But this was exposed to the sea and therefore dredging, including a 20-foot channel, was begun in the eastern-most section of Tien Sha cove. This would not only permit the entry of craft to be repaired, but would also permit the floating drydock to submerge for pickup of the vessels to be drydocked. Soon another YR was received, as was another YFND. These were moored near the Vietnamese Naval Base behind Monkey Mountain and were designated to handle maintenance work on the boats assigned to Market Time.
The skill and ingenuity of the officers and men who manned the Small Craft Repair Facility cannot be praised too highly. To give the reader some idea of the tempo of operations during the month of March 1968, 68 small craft were drydocked. The engine shops in the YR worked around the clock overhauling the propulsion units for the essential lighters.
In the early days of the Support Activity, regular overhaul of lighterage, from LCM-3 to LCU or YFU-size, was done in Subic Bay or Japan. The YWs,[12] YOs, and YOGs, together with the tugs of various sizes, also had to make the long journey, either in an LSD or by sailing escorted, to receive their regular overhauls. It was the dream of the Repair Officer, Commander Ray Pierce, that SCRF would some day be able to save these long transit times and accomplish the overhauls in Da Nang. In February of 1967 this dream was realized when the overhaul of the first YFU in ICTZ was completed. Routine maintenance of the vast armada of service and lighterage craft[13] precluded overhauling all the vessels. However, the two months consumed by an overhaul outside Vietnam became unnecessary for a significant number of the craft.
Perhaps the most impressive of SCRF’s many talents lay in their versatility. They never protested that because they lacked facilities, special tools, or specially trained men, they couldn’t do a job. Whether it was changing one of the dredge Hyde’s large screws, placing a patch on the Coconino County’s ruptured bottom, replacing the bottom and major portion of the hull of a YFU damaged by a mine, changing gas turbine engines in the gunboat Asheville (PG-84), or drydocking the Alaska Barge and Tug Company’s tug Makah, SCRF could do it. In addition, the attached Navy divers were active during the monsoon season in keeping the sea load fuel lines in commission, as well as in aiding successful salvage work from one end of I Corps to the other. A small repair detachment was maintained in Chu Lai, which was adequate for performing maintenance and emergency repairs on their support craft. When the Cua Viet ramp was put into commission in March of 1967, a small detachment of repairmen was assigned to keep the many lighters operational. They were the same men who that May were to have the Hyde back in operation within 36 hours of the time she fell casualty to the mine.
The move to Tien Sha Cove by the SCRF greatly enhanced its value. It permitted the expansion of facilities on the beach. A finger pier, replacing pontoon causeways, was built alongside for mooring craft in need of repairs.
The NSA Hospital
Just as the SCRF cared for sick craft, the NSA Hospital served the sick and wounded men in I Corps.[14] Construction of the 400-bed hospital began in July of 1965- By early 1966 it could accommodate 165 patients and consisted of 18 buildings which ranged from laboratories and an X-ray room to an optical shop. By June of that same year, it had grown to 330 beds and included air conditioned operating rooms and wards. By the end of August, the goal of 404 beds had been reached. This capacity, added to the almost 800 beds in the hospital ship Repose, greatly assisted in the rapid and excellent medical attention which has become one of the remarkable accomplishments of the Vietnam war. In the spring of 1967, the USS Sanctuary (AH-17) joined the USS Repose (AH-16) and added 780 hospital beds. Eventually Da Nang Hospital increased to 600 beds.
Each person who has served in Vietnam probably has his favorite example of the outstanding medical service available in country. My favorite example of cool courage combined with remarkable professional skill involves the removal of a live 60 mm. mortar round from the chest of Private First Class Nguyen Luong, ARVN. This daring operation was accomplished by Navy Medical Corps Captain H. H. Dinsmore with the assistance of Chief Engineman J. J. (Shorty) Lyons, Navy explosive ordnance demolition expert. The pair, working in an area surrounded by sandbags to protect the rest of the operating room staff should the mortar round detonate, calmly made the incision and then gently lifted out the round with its detonating plunger just millimeters away from contact with the explosive squib. True to the Navy practice of awarding honorary memberships, Dr. Dinsmore was appointed an honorary member of the EOD fraternity, while Chief Engineman Lyons was made an honorary corpsman. Captain Dinsmore also received the Navy Cross for his intrepidity.
During the four years the hospital was operated under Navy management, a total of 66,007 patients, 21,523 of whom had combat related injuries, were treated. In addition, nearly a million persons received outpatient care (958,051 to be precise).
New Equipment Enhances Capability
New concepts and equipment were identified and used in an ever urgent attempt to keep the “customer happy.” One of the early techniques used to keep supplies flowing into Northern I Corps was the use of LSDs to carry LCUs and YFUs “piggyback” during the monsoon season. As has been previously indicated, when the great northeast monsoon swells built up, transit time for the old YFUs was doubled, often tripled, or more. In an attempt to keep the Third Marine Division supplied, YFUs or LCUs filled with cargo were loaded into the well deck of an LSD, which then steamed north at three to four times the old lighter’s speed. Arriving off Cua Viet in the morning, the LSD would disgorge her boats and then pick up a load of empties for the trip back south. Frequently AKAs were also used to assist in clearing cargo backlogs, or to assist in rotating Marine Units out of Vietnam. In each of these cases, the Support Activity supplemented the AKA’s own boats to speed loading and unloading.
Introducing the Containership and the Roll-On-Roll-Off
Containership operations in Vietnam were started in ICTZ on 1 August 1967, when the steamship Bienville arrived in Da Nang with 228 35-foot long trailer truck size containers, 55 of which were refrigerated vans. Within 18 hours the Bienville was unloaded and her cargo, still in its containers, was on its way to the customer. The vans, lifted out of the ship’s holds by her own cranes, were moved to the side of the ship and lowered carefully to the waiting wheeled frames and tractors parked on the pier below. Customers were pleased with this new method of packaging and delivery. The time saved in handling by NSA Da Nang was substantial. Since the vans were locked, pilfering was reduced, and critical pier space was saved by the rapid movement of vans from the unloading area. The vans also afforded a convenient container for retrograde cargoes, such as empty brass.
Refrigerated vans were particularly valuable. Lettuce picked in the Salinas Valley of California was packed in the refrigerated container in the field and, without further handling, traveled to Da Nang in an ordinary containership. In this way spoilage was drastically reduced in all refrigerated items. The reefer vans also offered critically needed temporary refrigerated storage space. Finally, the vans eliminated the need to handle and stage cargo at ocean terminals. Despite the early concern that the monsoon weather might make the unloading of containers unfeasible, it was discovered that there was no appreciable effect on the operation during most of the monsoon season. The use of Sky-crane helicopters for unloading containers was experimented with in Da Nang, but was never adopted.
The introduction of Roll-On Roll-Off (Ro Ro) shipping, however, which in Vietnam was begun at Cam Ranh Bay, in II Corps, also proved quite advantageous in the movement of rolling stock to and within I Corps. In November 1967, the steamer Transglobe, under MSTS charter, began a Ro Ro service between Da Nang and Okinawa. On the first occasion, 44 trailers and 15 miscellaneous vehicles were discharged in a five-hour period. The Ro Ro concept allows a vehicle to be driven both aboard and off the ship. The ship to be unloaded is moored alongside a pier in the normal manner. When alongside, she is gently eased back until her stern ramp is within reach of the causeway or barge located astern on to which her cargo is driven. The causeway or barge is connected to the land so that the vehicles are easily driven ashore. This system was used not only at Da Nang, but also at Cua Viet, and was a welcome improvement in the logistic movement of vehicles, especially in the handling of trailers and semi-trailers.
The “Skilak”
So far as local seaborne lines of communication are concerned, the greatest improvement coming out of the war was the introduction to the Navy of the “Skilak.” The old YFU, and its newer version, the 1400 class LCU, did a yeoman job of handling the unique shuttle of cargo from Da Nang to the many ancillary ports served. They sailed when all the rules of prudent seamanship dictated that they should stay in port. They lost their way because their primitive navigational equipment was never designed for such open sea voyages. In spite of the efforts of a group of hard-working electronic technicians, their radars and communication gear were out of order about as often as they operated. Yet they continued to sail north and south from Da Nang with their hundred-ton loads of cargo. The intrepid crews who manned these “U boats” were undaunted in carrying out their arduous and often monotonous routine, which, beginning in 1967, became hazardous as well. Sometimes the ‘Us’ were stranded on unfriendly shores and on occasion sailed past the DMZ only to have the North Vietnamese garrison on Tiger Island fire at them, giving them their first clue that they had passed their destination.
Then, in late 1967, the first of the new breed of cargo carrier came into the picture. The “Skilak” was designed in San Francisco for the Alaska trade. When NSA examined the new craft concept, it was apparent that its greater capacity made the “Skilak” perfect for logistic operations in I Corps. When the first one of them arrived in Vietnam in the well deck of an LSD, the NSA lighterage operators were convinced. Here was a craft that could carry 360 ST of dry cargo for harbor operations and 260 ST for coastal operations (the lighter load gave a greater amount of freeboard and allowed for greater safety). The “Skilak’s” draft and speed was about the same as the 1400 class LCU. The living quarters were better than quarters on either the YFU or LCU, being roomy and air-conditioned. Engineering spaces were roomy and accessible compared with the YFU wherein the engineer was forced to walk in a crouch through his main engine room. About the only disadvantage was that the main well deck was not strengthened to carry tanks, and, in a purely logistical role, this really wasn’t a drawback. One favored use was in the movement of ammunition. The “Skilak” was loaded alongside ammunition ships and then proceeded to her destination at Tan My or Dong Ha without any further handling.
In addition to her improved dry cargo capacity, the “Skilak” had a very impressive liquid cargo storage capacity. In December of 1969, with the sea load line at Cua Viet not operational because of monsoon storm damage, “Skilaks” delivered 130,000 gallons of diesel oil to Dong Ha. Designed as they were for the rough weather of the Alaskan trade, they had few problems in the monsoon weather.
The Versatile Ammi
Another new design to come out of the war in Vietnam was the Ammi Pontoon. This versatile piece of equipment, which measured 90 x 28 x 5 feet, offered answers to a wide range of requirements associated with forward area logistic operations.
Designed to accommodate 22-inch steel spuds at each corner, the Ammi could become a quick reaction mini-DeLong pier. These same spuds served as guides when the Ammi was flooded and used as a forward area small craft dry dock. With the craft positioned over it, the water was removed with compressed air and up came Ammi with up to 200 tons of small craft high and dry. Equipped with large warping tug “outboards,” it became a self-propelled fuel barge with a capacity for 58 thousand gallons of different kinds of fuel in its six tanks. When further equipped with a transfer system, the Ammi was used to fuel lighters in Da Nang harbor and relieve the overworked YOGs and YOs. Eventually it relieved the LCM-8 bladder-equipped boat on the Cua Viet fuel shuttle to Dong Ha. In November of 1969, when the YOG-76 was mined in the Cua Viet, the reliable Ammi played a role in helping to refloat that valuable fuel carrier. Both Ammi and “Skilak” have earned a well deserved spot in the history of Navy logistic support operations in Vietnam.
Operational Obstacles
Certainly, a logistic operation the size of NSA faced obstacles, as the reader has come to learn. Obsolescence of equipment, absence of clearing port staging areas, shortage of spare parts, disagreeable geography, unknown hydrography, enemy action, and difficult weather, were the major problems which provided daily challenges to the Commander and his staff.
Obsolete equipment represented a definite obstacle to a smooth, efficient operation of NSA. Twenty-year-old service craft posed problems in maintenance and reliability. They continued to function only because of the masterful efforts of their dedicated crews, and the ingenious repair department people, who never let anything deter them from meeting a craft’s sailing schedule. Tired engines, worn out transmissions, and poor preservation made most of these relics of another war candidates for a scrap yard. In fact before the war began two of the YFUs had been sunk at Yokosuka to serve as improvised harbor breakwaters. Pumped out and refloated, they were overhauled and sent to Da Nang to join the coastal shuttle which kept the Marines in business in I Corps.
Clearing cargo staging areas was initially a problem of some magnitude. There simply were not enough trucks to keep the cargo cleared on its way to the customer or to storage. The roads, few in number and bad in quality, contributed to this problem.
Worth its weight in gold when it worked, and yet a millstone around the freight terminal officer’s neck when it needed repairs, was the rough terrain fork lift. It was ideal for working cargo on the unimproved terrain and it was able to move itself about the confines and obstacles which an LST ramp and tank deck presented; but the lack of repair parts kept many inoperable during the first two years. The shortage of these versatile vehicles had a definite deleterious impact on cargo movement.
Geography and hydrography of the area also posed substantial obstacles to logistic operations. Waterways were shallow and filled with sandbars, which made voyages at all tidal stages difficult. The labyrinth of waterways which crisscrossed the countryside made travel ashore difficult because of the enemy’s land mines, booby traps, and sabotage of bridges. There is just no easy way to move cargo in the land of rice paddies and coolie hats.
Enemy Interference
As one might expect, enemy action provided some obstacles to NSA operations. A few examples will suffice:
On 12 June 1967, NSAD Cua Viet received 200 rounds of rocket and artillery fire. Three 10,000-gallon bladders and their contents were destroyed.
In February 1968 the Officer-in-Charge of NSAD Hue was killed during the Tet offensive.
In September 1968, three LCM-8s were damaged by mining in Dam Nuoc Man at Sa Huynh.
On 16 January 1969, YFU-62 was mined while transiting Cua Viet. The craft sank. Eight were killed, three wounded.
On 27 February 1969, a rocket and mortar attack on the Bridge Cargo Facility at Da Nang sank the LCU-1600 and YFU-78, killing 13 in the one and 6 in the other. Both craft were loaded with ammunition.
That more NSA bluejackets and officers were not killed can be credited more to a kindly and protective Providence than to any invulnerability which their craft, armament, or cargo offered.
Weather
Weather complicated the job of the logistician in I Corps. We can give weather full credit for keeping two, and sometimes three, dredges on duty in I Corps waterways—and there were times when these busy craft did not prove adequate to keep the channels open after a typhoon, such as Doris in September of 1969. We can credit weather with making life miserable for salvage and UDT divers who had to get out and check to see if the sea load lines were intact after each northeast monsoon. Many a young lieutenant (junior grade) was thwarted in his job as YFU convoy commodore by 14-foot waves which caused him to postpone sailing his vital cargo until the storm had abated. For further confirmation of the weather’s role, ask any of the skippers of the craft whose hulks litter the foreshores of northern I Corps.
Overcoming the Obstacles
Among the lighters, obsolescence was slowly overcome by introducing the new “Skilak,” while as soon as reasonable data on parts usage could be compiled for the rough terrain fork lift, the spare parts problem for this equipment disappeared. The geography was changed by ambitious and skilled Seabees to accommodate land transportation, and the hydrography was altered to support river operations by the courageous crews of the dredges. Enemy action could be controlled by Marines pushing the perimeter out and maintaining good air cover and tight security support. But the weather was, as Mark Twain said, “something everybody talked about, but nobody ever did anything about.” While improvements have occurred in the realm of all other obstacles mentioned, the weather, for all the talk, has not improved one whit. It was the principal item on an NSA commander’s list of worries.
Additional Contributions
Not surprisingly, there were many miscellaneous support functions provided by NSA, such as the rescue of two Marine Corps pilots by the LCU-1615 and LCU-1619 off the Cua Viet River on 26 and 29 September 1967, or the tactical support provided by NSA’s LCUs and YFUs as they redeployed tanks and heavy equipment in support of ground operations throughout I Corps. While NSA was chartered to support only U. S. and Free World forces in I Corps, its people never failed to provide visiting ships of the Fleet with water, diesel oil, or provisions to the limit of their ability. For instance, during January 1967, NSA supplied ships from the Fleet with 793,912 gallons of diesel oil and over a million gallons of fresh water. On the 17th through the 22nd of May in 1967, when the DMZ sterile zone was being created, the YFU-55 and YFU-57 evacuated the Vietnamese population north of the Cua Viet. Two NSA LCM-8s were responsible for towing to Chu Lai the North Vietnamese trawler which had been forced ashore by Market Time forces 15 miles south of Chu Lai in July of 1967.
NSA harbor security forces cooperated periodically with the Vietnamese harbor police in pulling periodic surprise junk identification checks in Da Nang Harbor. NSA operations department men also represented the Commander in the joint port coordinating committee which worked with the Vietnamese Army and civilian port directors in improving aids to navigation and port facilities. Disposing of defective ordnance and supporting USAID (the foreign aid agency) were two more of the many activities engaged in by the Support Activity. The excellent communications department, in addition to providing support for the commander, also assisted from time to time in supporting the Fleet broadcasts.
NSA had come into existence for the special purpose of supplying the Third Marine Amphibious Force in I Corps when the Army said it was unable to assume the logistic task. As it became apparent that the U. S. must reduce its presence in Vietnam and look to Vietnamization of the war, the need for continued Navy support in I Corps lessened. It was determined that the Army should properly relieve the Marines of the ground action and the Navy of the support effort. The Commanding General XXIV Corps relieved the Commanding General III MAF as I Corps Commander in March of 1970. The phasing out of the Naval Support Activity, Da Nang, began in earnest in December 1969. The ACTOV, or Accelerated Turn-Over to the Vietnamese program, saw YOG-71, YG-51, YFRN-997, YFR-888, four LCUs or YFUs, three LCM-8s, and other miscellaneous small craft turned over to the Vietnamese. NSA people assisted in the training of their new operators.
Since by then the sea communications were replaced by land supply routes, on 15 February 1970, NSA Da Nang closed its detachments at Dong Ha-Cua Viet, and Sa Huynh. On 15 March, Tan My was turned over to the Army. By 26 March, all fuel supply operations in ICTZ were being run by the Army. NSAD Phu Bai was turned over on 10 April; the support organization at Chu Lai came under Army operation on 1 June. The NSA Hospital became an Army cantonment after its patients were sent in mid-May to the USS Sanctuary, the Marine’s 1st Medical Battalion hospital, or the Army’s 95th Base hospital. On 30 June 1970, just three and a half months short of five years from the date of its original commissioning, Rear Admiral R. E. Adamson, Jr., transferred all remaining logistic support functions to the U. S. Army in Vietnam. From NSA Da Nang’s impressive force of over 400 officers and over 10,000 men, whose domain stretched from the DMZ to the southern boundary of Quang Ngai Province, came the Naval Support Facility, Da Nang, which, on 15 September 1970, consisted of 2,500 to 3,000 persons of the U. S. and Vietnamese navies and Vietnamese civilians. NSF Da Nang is now the second largest naval industrial establishment in Vietnam.
NSF's New Role
When Rear Admiral Adamson decommissioned NSA Da Nang, his chief of staff became Commanding Officer of the new facility, which consists principally of the SCRF and Camp Tien Sha. Here U. S. Navymen teach their counterparts in the Vietnamese Navy the skills of repair and maintenance of patrol and logistic craft which have been turned over in the ACTOV program. This will culminate in the turnover of the Small Craft Repair Facility complex.
The organization was combined in October 1970 as a joint U. S. and Vietnamese naval base, with a Vietnamese executive officer and assistant department heads, the commanding officer and department heads being U. S. officers. In a concluding memo to the U. S. Navymen remaining at NSF Da Nang, Rear Admiral Adamson stated, “Those of you remaining here will carry out the tremendously important job of preparing the Vietnamese Navy to take over responsibility for prosecuting the war effort. Training is the key to success of this undertaking, and this is where each of you becomes very important. The degree of success you have in communicating your experience and knowledge of the job to your counterpart will dictate just how soon the Vietnamese Navy will no longer require your presence.”
Training is divided into three phases, the first of which is classroom instruction lasting about 12 weeks. The second phase involves on-the-job training, the Vietnamese working alongside their U. S. Navy counterparts. Phase three begins with the Vietnamese actually relieving our men. The entire process has all the earmarks of being an orderly and effective Vietnamization of the war with no Irish pennants left over to mar the splendid record built by the Navy’s I Corps support activity.
Significant to any operation of this magnitude upon its completion are the lessons learned. A Joint Logistics Review Board, consisting of very senior officers from all Services, convened in 1969 and completed its review of the logistics effort in Vietnam in June of 1970. This paper does not presume to guess what the JLRB will have concluded; however, certain points appear obvious.
Lessons Learned
The first of these is that the lack of logistic tradition may well have been the key to the Navy’s success in I CTZ. The Army logistic Table of Organization and Equipment (TO & E) spells out the support requirements for various Army forces. There is no guesswork and consequently little flexibility in this system. The Army operates a “push” logistic pipe line. Conversely the Navy, lacking all but the most rudimentary guidelines and having few experienced people (most of whom were to be found in a very small number of Cargo Handling Battalions), started with a small support force, extracted the maximum effort (12 hours per day, seven days a week) and then expanded as necessary to keep the troops supported. The Navy pipeline was a “pull” effort, the Naval Support Activity Commander and his staff being expected to keep the supplying logistic agent advised of their needs. While this method did not afford the admiral and his department heads a feeling of complacency, the fact that details were not spelled out in a book back on the mainland did afford them an exciting challenge. It provided motivation and stimulated ingenuity at every level of the support organization, and the job was done well. It was a manifestation of the old Navy “Can Do” spirit honed down to its finest edge. There was no fat in the NSA organization. Documentation of this effort will provide the Navy with guidelines on the minimum requirements to perform a maximum effort in any future operation of this type. In addition, it allowed the sea-going Navy to remain at maximum strength at a time when our commitments on, under, and above the surface of the seas were most demanding.
The second lesson was a revalidation of the efficacy of an arm of the Navy which earned its place on the Navy-Marine Corps team during World War II, the Seabees. The construction requirements in all of Vietnam were unbelievable in scope. Captain Merdinger described the Seabee impact on the war effort in his excellent article in last year’s Review. Little could be added here to describe the courageous and professional job that they did as construction men and fighters. They proved themselves capable of following the Marines ashore and building airfields, cantonments, utility plants, landing ramps, piers, and even an ice cream factory.
Brown Water Logistics
NSA wrote a new chapter in the book of warfare on shallow water resupply. Assault craft found new uses as draught wagons using the waterways which crisscrossed Vietnam. New craft such as “Skilak” were pressed into service to increase the efficiency of the logistic effort. As long as there are waterways and small craft available to ply them, lack of organized land lines of communication should never again cause logistic support to falter.
Weaknesses in assault fueling techniques were discovered and corrected; this knowledge will serve us in good stead in future operations. It was reaffirmed that sheltered piers, large enough to accommodate sea-going tankers, were not necessary to support the prodigious fuel requirements of modern warfare The Mono-buoy appears to have answered a great many questions on how to keep the seaward end of bottom lay lines functioning during the severe storms such as those which plagued I Corps during the monsoon seasons.
Ultimate Lesson
Of all the lessons learned, one stands out above all others—Man is still the ultimate answer in logistic support of large armies. For men sailed the battered YFUs to their destinations deep in the heart of hostile territory; men unloaded ships in 120-degree tropical heat during long twelve-hour shifts; men built the airstrips and carved out the roads and dredged the silt-filled sand bars from the waterways; men dived in murky and turbulent waters to locate the elusive ends of the 12-inch flexible hoses which wrapped themselves about the chains of mooring clumps; men guarded the cargo operations from the enemy and from the thieves. It was the U. S. bluejacket who gave credence to the Naval Support Activity, Da Nang motto—“They Shall Not Want.”
[signed] F. C. Collins, Jr.
[1] “Building the Advanced Base at Da Nang” by Captain K. P. Huff, U. S. Naval Reserve, in Naval Review 1968.
[2] In Vietnam the Cua Viet River is called the Hieu Giang, while the American version derives its use from the name of the river mouth (Cua Viet), literally South Mouth.
[3] An LCU and a YFU are basically the same craft with two different designations for two uses. The former stands for Landing Craft Utility, the latter stands for Harbor Utility Craft. In general, LCUs, when old, become YFUs. LARC is the Army acronym for Amphibious Resupply Cargo Lighter, which comes in 5- and 15-ton sizes. The Army owns most of the LARCs in the U. S. inventory.
[4] Now 18- to 20-feet deep.
[5] These fuel lines frequently broke during the Northeast Monsoon. Wave and surf action tangled hoses with buoy moorings and ripped them apart.
[6] “Civil Engineers, Seabees, and Bases in Vietnam” by Captain Charles J. Merdinger, Civil Engineer Corps, U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1970.
[7] Measurement tons. 1 MT = 40 cubic feet. This volumetric measurement is best used for low density cargo such as vehicles and boats.
Short tons. 1 ST = 2,000 pounds. This measurement is best used for high density cargoes such as cement, ammunition, and construction steel.
[8] Where the larger T-2 tanker was used.
[9] Modified Danforth anchors.
[10] Described in detail by Captain C. E. Merdinger, CEC, U. S. Navy, in his article, “Civil Engineers, Seabees, and Bases in Vietnam,” in Naval Review 1970, p. 254.
[11]A YR is an internal combustion engine repair barge. It is not self- propelled, but is covered. An AFDL is a small floating drydock used to support amphibious action. A YFND is a covered barge used as a shop stores vessel. The last two types are non-self-propelled.
[12]These craft provided water to ships calling at Da Nang, obtaining their cargo from a stream running down the side of Monkey Mountain.
[13] On 1 January 1969 NSA Da Nang had 53 LCUs or YFUs, 36 LCM-6s or LCM-3s, and 46 LCM-8s.
[14] See “Doctors and Dentists, Nurses and Corpsmen in Vietnam,” by Commander F. D. McClendon, Jr., MSC, U. S. Navy, in Naval Review 1970, p. 276.