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Why These Boats?
The United States began to funnel aid into South Vietnam as
early as 1955. Military assistance took the form of equipment
and advice. When North Vietnam declared that the political
struggle with the South was not a military struggle, it was
inevitable that the Americans in Vietnam would be sucked into
the ensuring war. At first the advisors remained just that, but
with the inauguration of President Kennedy in 1961 a rapid US
buildup commenced. In 1962 the MACV (Military Assistance Command
Vietnam) was set up. [The History of the Vietnam War, Kamps.]
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“Long before American combat troops arrived in Southeast Asia, the
CIA was conducting covert operations and programs to bolster the South
Vietnamese government.” [Douglas Pike, WIS, p. 34]
Initially the CIA Maritime forces used junks rigged for clandestine
missions. Soon many other craft were procured to provide the different
mission support necessary to meet the goals of the command authority. Some
of these boats are outlined here. They are the historically important
craft and we have chosen to first perpetuate the history of these 9 boats.
As the Vietnam war was drawing to a close more
modern craft were being introduced. Some of these are presented
here to bring the history up to the present day. One section here
is Pre-Vietnam boats for those patrol boats that people have
requested that I share.
This is the page that links to the Vietnam
era Patrol Boats. If you have photos or history or favorite links
that can be added, send it along. This will be an ongoing process to
get this complete and accurate.
04/23/04 - Enjoy this two collections of photos taken by Rick
Johnson's father. His Dad was the only Hoosier newspaperman to go to
Vietnam to report on the war. He spent about a month overseas in the
fall of 1966. Some are aircraft and the rest are boats. Visit the
Albums at:
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4025402&a=30210856&f=0
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4025402&a=31042967&f=0
Mr. Withers: I have quite a
few Vietnam pictures you may be interested in seeing. My dad
took the photos in the fall of 1966, and many of them depict the
Green/Brown water Navy.
If you see anything you'd like to use on your website, feel free
to do so. All I ask is that you credit my father, Rick Johnson,
for anything you use. Should you have any questions or
concerns, please E-mail or call at your convenience.
Sincerely, Paul A. Johnson -
johnsonpall@spitfire.net
I have just ripped
this page up for a re-work, so stand by.
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