Dear Members and Friends,

Writing about our merchant seamen who made the supreme sacrifice in wartime is never an easy task.

Pierside, pier 45, 1000, July 24th near the bow of the S.S. JEREMIAH O'BRIEN, the leadership of the Golden Gate Chapter, American Merchant Marine Veterans, again honored their shipmates lost in combat. This time it was both the World War II as the Vietnam War mariners.

Prior to 1997, there were plaques and memorials near pier 30 and the Ferry Building. When the Embarcadero freeway was demolished, these items were removed and placed in storage. They seemed to be lost but no they were located and after some discussions with the San Francisco Port Authority, the Golden Gate Chapter determined that a site up against the wherehouse wall would be an appropriate place to collect and display them. There is a bronze AMMV plaque, an old anchor, and the memorial to those who lost their lives on the S. S. BATON ROUGE VICTORY.

It was a well attended ceremony. Harold Wagner, President and Chief Executive Officer of the chapter was the Master of Ceremonies. Here are the individuals who spoke:

• Captain Kerry O'Brien gave a moving invocation and benediction.
• Monique Moyer, Executive Director, Port of San Francisco talked about the port's roll and expressed her pleasure on seeing them on display again.
• Walter Vestnys, Regional Vice President, AMMV, was scheduled to speak but he was regretfully absent.
• Captain Mark Shafer has several titles. He too gave some reflections on serving aboard ship and the lost we all feel.
• Captain Frank Mederios, formerly with the Master Mates and Pilots Union, also remarked on service and sacrafice.
• Gunner Lundberg spoke on behalf of the Sailors Union of the Pacific.
• Phelps Hobart couldn't add much but he reminded all that the Navy League stands with the unions, the veterans, and others in tribute. The first hand experience of the others was much more moving. He did reassemble the crowd in front of the S.S. BATON ROUGE VICTORY monument.

Below is some good information on the U. S. Merchant Marine during the Vietnam War. I thank Kerry for his personal reflection and welcome others. There is space on our website and in our newsletter for history as well as current matters.

Anchors Aweigh,

Phelps

Phelps Hobart, President

Pacific Merchant Marine Council, NLUS

S.S. BATON ROUGE VICTORY. 8-23-66

• Raymond Barrett
• John A. Bishop
• Earl Erickson
• James W. McBride
• Timothy N. Riordan
• Robert J. Rowe
• Charles B. Rummel

Left a 12 by 45 foot hole in the ship.

Remembering Vietnam's Forgotten Seamen

by Stephen Schwartz, San Francisco Chronicle October 20, 1997

On San Francisco's Embarcadero, near where their ship sailed off to Southeast Asia, a gray stone memorial honors seven West Coast merchant seamen who died in the Vietnam War.

The monument at the foot of Howard Street is a window to the waterfront's past - and a reminder of the current campaign to get full veterans' benefits for civilian seafarers. In the ongoing debate over the conflict in Southeast Asia, as in the recollection of most of America's wars, merchant seamen tend to be overlooked.

"They should be recognized as veterans," said Dan Horodysky of the American Merchant Marine Veterans group, which is lobbying for complete veterans' benefits for all civilian seamen who served in wartime.

Few of the merchant mariners to serve in America's wars have received such recognition. The one exception is seafarers who served in World War II: many of them were granted veterans' benefits in 1988, and two bills now before Congress would extend those benefits to thousands who were excluded in the first legislation.

The seven men memorialized on the Embarcadero tablet were members of the "black gang," the below-decks personnel -- named for their usual state of appearance while on the job stoking boilers in the old steamships -- aboard the Baton Rouge Victory. Neither their names nor the names of 37 other seamen who died in Vietnam are etched on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The Baton Rouge Victory left port with a crew of 45 on July 28,1966. The Embarcadero was still teeming with seafarers then, but now the ships have vanished, the men who worked aboard them are largely forgotten, and restaurants and lofts dot the area.

The ship, which had been built at the end of World War II and was one of the first Victory ships taken out of the mothball fleet at Suisun Bay for service in Southeast Asia, was leased as a supply vessel by the federal government and operated by States Line. It was carrying a load of military trucks and other heavy equipment.

On August 23, 1966, the ship was proceeding along the Long Tao river, about 22 miles southeast of what was then Saigon, when a limpet mine, placed on the 8,500 ton freighter's hull, ripped through its belly. The explosive had been positioned by a swimmer and then detonated electronically by someone crouching on the riverbank.

Of the seven who died, Raymond Barrett, Earl Erickson, James McBride, Timothy Riordan and Robert Rowe were members of the Marine Firemen's Union, while Charles Rummel and John Bishop were officers and members of Marine Engineers' union.

The explosion was blamed on the Viet Cong. They had begun attacking ships with small arms fire in February of that year, and two other freighters had been slightly damaged by mines in May. The Baton Rouge Victory was the first American vessel sunk in the Saigon ship channel.

In all, 44 merchant mariners perished while serving on U.S. merchant ships in Vietnam. As with the armed service personnel who died in combat, some are known only by their family names, and one is unidentified. Two are missing in action and presumed dead.

U.S. Merchant Marine, Military Sea Transportation Service, and Military Sealift Command in Vietnam

http://www.usmm.org/vietnam.html

In February 1951 the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) aircraft carrier Windham Bay, was the first large ship to navigate the Long Tam River since 1925. While the ship was docked at Saigon (French Indochina) 17 hand grenades were tossed at the ship by terrorists.

The Military Sea Transportation Service was established in 1949 to provide sea transportation to the military as a successor to the Army Transportation Service. MSTS operated a fleet of ships and had charter agreements with commercial shipping firms. MSTS was succeeded by Military Sealift Command.

In 1954, after the partitioning of Vietnam, MSTS evacuated Vietnamese refugees from North to South Vietnam. USNS Howze was one of many MSTS ships involved in "Passage to Freedom" bringing 300,000 refugees and 200,000 tons of Cargo from North Vietnam. [Your webmistress arrived in the United States in 1949 on the USAT General R. L. Howze as a refugee of World War II.]

The Military Sea Transportation Service had the job of bringing war supplies to Vietnam -- 10,000 miles from the Pacific coast. MSTS had four separate customers to serve: the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. MSTS ships were staffed by "civilian" crews, but carried 95% of the supplies used by our Armed Forces in Vietnam including bombs and ammunition into combat zones under fire. Crew members were given Navy grades and rank identification in event of enemy capture. During Vietnam, MSTS first utilized roll-on/roll-off ships and container ships which speeded loading and unloading.

[SS Overseas Rose with landing barges lashed across her deck]

MSTS took about 100 Victory ships out of the National Defense Reserve Fleet (mothball fleet), repaired them, and assigned them to private companies for operation to carry ammunition across the Pacific. MSTS carried guns, tanks, trucks, trains, riverboats, barges, helicopters, bombers, fighters, reconnaissance planes, food, fuel, and medical supplies. By 1965 MSTS had 300 freighters and tankers supplying Vietnam, with an average of 75 ships and over 3,000 merchant mariners in Vietnamese ports at any time.

Early in the Vietnam War, troop ships such as the USNS Upshur, Geiger, and Gordon carried two thirds of U.S. troops to Vietnam; later, most American troops traveled by air. However, Korean troops were transported by MSTS throughout the war, with the first 2,000 coming on the MSTS Mann in March 1965. In August 1966 USNS Patch and Darby carried troops 12,500 miles from Boston to Vietnam, the longest trooplift in U.S. military history. In October 1966 the converted Liberty ship SS Benjamin Chew and the SS Meredith Victory were added as troop carriers. Men and equipment of the Army 1st Cavalry Division went to Vietnam aboard the baby flattops USNS Kula Gulf and Point Cruz which were taken out of mothballs to transport the 434 aircraft and other equipment. Other escort carriers which saw WWII duty included the USNS Core, Card, Croatan, and Breton.

Da Nang harbor was the home of the Marine Amphibious Force Logistic Command which handled the gear necessary to support 81,000 Marines. MSTS brought 96% of their war materiel including tanks, airplanes, ammunition, and food -- including ice cream.

USNS Point Cruz loaded with CH-47 helicopters, F-5 fighters and truck trailers in 1968	Damaged SS Baton Rouge Victory under tow

Between 1965 and 1969, MSTS carried 7.6 million tons of supplies for the Air Force, about half going directly to Vietnam, the rest to staging areas in the Pacific. MSTS delivered the goods "Special Express" and kept some of its 19 ammunition ships anchored offshore near combat areas as floating warehouses to ease storage problems experienced by the Air Force. SEA Express was the name of the program which delivered other Air Force supplies from Oakland, California to Saigon between 1965 and 1967, in an average of 23 days.

In 1965, US Coast Guard Squadron One, composed of 17 patrol boats was sealifted to the Philippines for Vietnam duty on the SS Pioneer Myth, SS Transcaribbean, SS Aloha State, and the SS Ocean Cloud. MSTS delivered bulldozers, cranes, steel and cement for use by Navy Seabees. MSTS and the Merchant Marine transported oil and aviation gas to support Navy fleet operations.

In 1968 MSTS sealifted 19 million tons (39 billion pounds) of cargo to Vietnam for the Army at a cost of $570 million. The MSTS Corpus Christi Bay, which housed an Army aviation-maintenance battalion, was positioned as necessary along the coast of Vietnam to provide aircraft maintenance facilities.

MSTS and chartered ships delivered to many ports in Vietnam during this "War Without a Front." The following were among the 46 precautions to be taken by the crew of the SS President Garfield (and other ships) during the particularly hazardous 35 mile river transit to Saigon:

• Bridge personnel in helmets and flak suits.
• Sandbags around bridge. Wheelhouse doors and windows open.
• Grenade screens secured on portholes.
• Engineers to go to full engine speed at first indication of attack without notifying bridge.
• Only necessary persons on duty in Engine Room or on open deck. Off duty crew spread out in alleyways.
• Purser standing by with medical kit.
• Fire fighting equipment ready. Bilge and ballast pumps warmed up, ready to use.
• Towing wires ready for tow without assist from ship crew. Both anchors ready for dropping.
  

[Security for arrival of the USNS Core in Saigon, whose sister ship, USNS Card, was sunk in 1964 by a mine placed by skin divers]

Maps and Saigon Pilot's Guide http://academic.uofs.edu/faculty/gramborw/atav/pilot.htm

Just as in World War II and Korea, merchant mariners in Vietnam were subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Effective December 1966, the military was granted authority to take disciplinary action against merchant mariners.

In 1975 MSTS helped evacuate refugees from Da Nang and later, Saigon. On March 28, 1975 the Pioneer Commander, the Pioneer Contender and the Navy's U.S.S. Miller evacuated about 10,000 refugees each. Returning the next day when the Communists had already overrun Da Nang, the ships evacuated thousands more.

On May 12, 1975, the SS Mayaguez was seized by Kmer Rouge. US marines suffered heavy casualties during the attempted rescue of the 39 seamen and the ship. Six mariner volunteers from the USNS Greenville Victory received Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal for their role during the action. Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces in May 1975

[Harbor at Cam Ranh Bay]

Memorial to Mariners who died on the SS Baton Rouge Victory
Previously located on San Francisco Embarcadero, removed during construction [photo by L.A. Wood, Berkeley]

 

 

Casualty list of 55 dead or missing in action in Vietnam compiled by Professor Michael Gillen, Pace University and by American Merchant Marine at War **personal correspondence.
* uncertain if Bunker Hill was in Vietnam service. . We would appreciate additional information about action and casualties in Vietnam.

Vietnam Mariners Lack Veteran Status

U.S. Merchant Marine served on ships that brought supplies to Vietnam during "The War Without a Front." They brought mail, Hueys, ammunition, food, medical supplies, and more. They brought the troops in and brought home many of those named on the Vietnam Memorial, "The Wall." These mariners were killed by mines, rockets, snipers, and explosions. Some are Missing in Action and presumed dead. They paid the Supreme Sacrifice while serving their country. They should be recognized as veterans. Their names belong on The Wall. 

Sources:
By Sea, Air, and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the War in Southeast Asia, Edward J. Marolda, Washington: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1994
Sealift Magazine, October 1969
Personal correspondence from Professor Michael Gillen and many others
Naval and Maritime Chronology 1961-1971. Compiled from 10 years of Naval Review. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press
Seattle Times, Seattle WA, 16 Feb 1968

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http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/vietnam/minesouthviet.htm

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Water Mine Warfare in South Vietnam

By Edward J. Marolda

The Vietnamese Communists employed thousands of mines against U.S. and allied naval forces throughout the conflict in Vietnam, much as they had against the French during the First Indochina War. Between 1959 and 1964, Viet Cong mines, often homemade devices, took an increasing toll of naval vessels and civilian craft on the many rivers and canals of South Vietnam. This threat ended commercial traffic on some of the country's primary waterways.

As U.S. naval forces deployed to South Vietnam in the mid-1960s, moving into the watery environment of the Mekong Delta west and south of Saigon, they took steps to counter the enemy's mine threat. The danger was especially acute on the waterways near Saigon, South Vietnam's most important port. Viet Cong closure of the Long Tau River, which followed a meandering, forty-five-mile course through the Rung Sat swamp on its way to the capital, would have put an enormous strain on allied logistic resources in the southern regions of South Vietnam.

As a result, on 20 May 1966 the Navy established Mine Squadron 11, Detachment Alpha (Mine Division 112 after May 1968) at Nha Be. The minesweeping detachment operated 12 or 13 57-foot, fiberglass-hulled minesweeping boats (MSB). The MSBs fought with machine guns and grenade launchers and carried surface radars and minesweeping gear for clearing explosives from the rivers. The Navy also set up three-boat sections at Danang and Cam Ranh Bay. Detachment Alpha's strength increased in July 1967 when the first of six mechanized landing craft, minesweeping (LCM(M)) reached Nha Be.

Despite the presence on the Long Tau of Mine Squadron 11 and other river warfare forces, in the second half of 1966 and early 1967 the Communists mounted a serious effort to interdict the waterway. The Viet Cong employed mines, 122-millimeter rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, recoilless rifles, machine guns, and small arms against American and Vietnamese naval forces and merchantmen. In August 1966, Viet Cong mines severely damaged SS Baton Rouge Victory, a Vietnamese Navy vessel, and MSB 54. Then that November, the enemy sank MSB 54. In February 1967, Communist direct-fire weapons and mines destroyed MSB 45 and heavily damaged MSB 49.

By the spring of 1967, however, the tide began to turn. Allied naval units moved in force into the Rung Sat area, refined their mine countermeasures tactics, and brought better weapons and equipment into play against the enemy sappers. Vietnamese Regional Force, U.S. Army 9th Division troops, and Navy SEAL commandoes, working with helicopter, river patrol boat, MSB, and LCM(M)) units, scoured the shorelines. During the next year, Communist guerrillas periodically ambushed ships on the Long Tau, but the fast and devasting reaction by allied forces kept casualties and damage to vessels relatively light. Often, the minesweeping force swept up mines before they could do damage or river patrol boat and SEAL patrols disrupted enemy attack plans. The upshot was that the Viet Cong were unable to cut or even seriously slow logistic traffic on the Long Tau, even when their comrades were fighting for their lives in Saigon during the Tet Offensive of early 1968.

During 1968 and 1969, the Navy also deployed strong mine countermeasures forces to the Cua Viet River, just south of the Demilitarized Zone, and defeated the North Vietnamese Army's attempt to cut the vital waterway.

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Sources:

Marolda, Edward J. By Sea, Air, and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the War in Southeast Asia. Washington: Naval Historical Center, 1994.

Schreadley, Richard L. From the Rivers to the Sea: The U.S. Navy in Vietnam. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1992.

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Reproduced with permission from: Tucker, Spencer C., ed. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1998.

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26 August 2003