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Junks: Yabuta, Coastal Raider & Kien Giang

Yabuta Junk  Displacement: 7 tons  Length: 36 feet  Beam: 10 feet  Draft: 2 feet Propulsion: 1 Gray Marine 3-cylinder diesel in Yabuta, Coastal Raider, Kien Giang junks and 6-cylnder diesel in command junks, single shaft  Speed: 10-12 kts  Range:  Crew: 7  Weapons: Yabutas carried 1 .30 and 1 .50 BMG. Command junks carried 1 .50 and 2 .30 BMGs, plus a 60mm mortar. (Photo: Vietnamese Navy)

HISTORY:   The Yabuta junk was used by Vietnamese coastal patrol forces to check boats for smuggled arms and equipment. These craft were very numerous: 46 of the 50-foot “command” junks were built, 151 of the 36-foot fiberglass junks, and 71 of the ferro-concrete “Coastal Raider” junks and 6 of the “Kien Giang” junks. The Vietnamese Navy divided the coast into five coastal zones. These zones were worked by a total of 20 coastal groups composed of 12 boats. The coastal groups were supported by 16 coastal radar sites. These boats were built by Viet Nam in the Saigon shipyard.

Life with the Yabutas, by Tim Johnston

Here is a fantastic 3 part history lesson on the use of Yabutas and other coastal Junks during the Vietnam War.

Part 1.   [Posted 05/12/04]     If I am an expert on Yabutas or anything else we are in a world of hurt! However (comma) I'll share what I know. I reported in country in late Aug.66 and was assigned (To My disgust) to CSC Danang. I bitched begged and fought for a field assignment on a weekly basis and was given additional duty as advisor to a VNN patrol det that ran nightly patrols on the Song Han-Song Vinh Dinh river complex south of the city with one or two Vedettes. These craft were similar but a bit larger than the more commonly seen STACAN?FOM. By late 66 I had become a total pain in the ass to higher echelons and I was re-assigned to CG14 as SA where I served until return to Conus in early SEP of 67.

CG 14 had three types of junks: Two were ancient motor-sailers (minus mast and sail) called di-cus.( zhi-cu) These were the smallest units we had and were usually kept near the base for defensive fires. There is an excellent selection at http/pcf45, then click cua dai sea tiger. They show the layout, etc of the base and some of its vulnerabilities.

The largest junk was the command junk or chu-luc of which we had two. Its advantage was that it carried a 50 and two 30's plus it was built strong enough to allow us to rig a 60mm mortar on the deck. Its drawbacks were that it was underpowered and a bigger target. The chu-luc was not what I'd call a bad sea-boat it was just sooo slow. The rest were Yabutas that were initially built at the shipyard in Saigon to a Japanese design. The Yabuta was a good craft, fairly seaworthy but uncomfortable. Yabutas normally carried a 30 and two BARs. They were relatively well powered by a Greymarine diesel (I think).

They could stay out for three days if you liked sun-dried squid as a main course. In fact it was not a bad dish. The squid were thin sliced and put on the deck house. After a few hours with the sun and salt spray they could provide you with a satisfying three-hour chew and some nourishment to boot.

During my tour the emphasis was on sea patrols but the action was in the river. All of these types, including the vedettes from Danang, were used in the river but no sustained effort to open the river was ever carried out save for one in 66 when the Marines provided bank security to move an LCM to the railroad bridge site on the Son thu bon river upstream from Hoi-An. This was the only time the river was open to Hoi An and that was for  only a two [?] day period  before Charlie got the door locked again. It stayed locked all thru my tour and was finally kicked open in operation Sea Tiger as a part of SEA LORDS missions.

I wish I could help with photographs  of the junks but my ex destroyed them in 78 when she got the gold mine and I got the shaft. I still have some BW USN 8x10s of the base and the Vedettes on the Song Vinh Dinh a creek/canal south of Danang and a Nam-ba- thanh place to be. Give me a snail mail address and Ill send them to you. The Vedette carried a 50 and a 20mm. It was steel hulled but 30 cal rounds could and did penetrate the hull with lots of energy left over 

Ill put together more dope as I can collect it and send you some stuff on CRD 21 as well I never believed that I could enjoy a tour of duty as well as I enjoyed that one As Tim Sammons (ex O-in-C of PTF 17) says "and they actually paid us for it!" 

Regards, Tim Johnston.

Part 2.      05/15/04  [The beginning is a reply to a question about the eyes on the bow]

The eyes are a long-standing Vietnamese custom. Something to do with the prevalent animism that the rural Vietnamese hold to. They are supposed to aid the boat's spirit in navigating under challenging conditions. They are not effective at spotting ambush sites. I guess that the spirits were neutral during that war. This was what my counterpart LTJG Nguyen Chi Toan told me when I asked him about their significance. Experienced sailors could determine the region of the country  from which a junk or sampan came by the design of the craft's eyes..

All in all they were good patrol craft but lacked the speed and endurance to really carry the load in an interdiction effort such as Market Time. Nonetheless they were used with success for short distance troop lifts and platoon size landing and extractions. A Chu-luc could give good close-in fire support with a 50/two 30's/and up to four BARs, plus a 60mm mortar.

The VNN supply system was subordinate to the ARVNs so we were always sucking on the aft nipple. Like all sailors, and advised by real experts, the junkies mastered the art of theft for a good cause which never fixed the supply system but kept the coastal group reasonably well off for ammo fuel food etc.

Food consisted of rice and whatever fish could be bought or caught. The favorite technique was to take a junk to the river mouth at the turn of the tide and heave a few grenades over the side then scoop up the fish with a dip net. You had to watch them like a hawk to make sure that there were enough grenades left over for the more mundane uses that they were needed for. The di-cus usually pulled fishing duty.

Advisors often supplemented the two VNN meals per day with leftover chow scrounged from the PCFs as they wound up their patrols. We had a gas reefer that kept food and beer plenty cold so all in all we did OK for chow. Not as good as a Boomer's crew but not too bad.

The firepower of up to eight junks in the river and just to seaward during an enemy attack was awesome and two of the three approaches that an attacking force had to make to get at us were perfectly enfiladed by fire from the junks. Charlie never made a successful land attack against CG 14. He preferred to mortar and fire recoiless rifles at us from across the river. This was an expensive tactic for him too as we had every conceivable firing position registered with the USMC battery attached to the 1/1/ Battalion near Hoi-An. Nonetheless he tried it a number of times.

These are some random thoughts about advisor duty with the junk force in 66-67 as I recall it. They were good troops in their own way and once you understood them you could make a small difference now and again here and there. They deserved so much better a fate than that which we left them to.

Regards, Tim Johnston

Part 3.     05/18/04

In the summer of 67 the USMC 1/1 Batt. and the ARVN executed  combined operation CANYON-BINH-QUAN I. This involved a Battalion sized sweep of the Barrier Island which was bounded by the Cua Dai/Son Thu Bon rivers to the North and the Truong Giang to the West. The ARVN units were supposedly positioned on the banks of the Truong Giang but according to the Marines they never went more than a token distance from Hwy 1 which paralleled the Truong Giang some distance to the West. CG 14 supplemented by PCFs from COSRON 1 were to block the river complex from the Cua Dai to the confluence of the Truong Giang and the Song Thu Bon. The whole river complex was called the Cua Dai from the mouth to the Hwy 1 bridges during Sea Tiger in SEA LORDS, but during my time we called it the Cua Dai (Great river mouth in Vietnamese) that portion from the mouth to about two miles upriver. After that, it was the Son Thu Bon all the way to the mountains. Oh well what's in a name.

The operation kicked off with a three company assault (2 companies from the 1/1 and 1 from the 2/26 Marines) crossing the river in LVTs after a short barrage of 6" from a CLG offshore. I THINK it was the GALVESTON but I am not at all sure. Anyhow the PCFs and Yabutas plus the Chu Luc set off upriver. The Junkies blocked the Cua Dai and landed a platoon to sweep the village of Xuyen Phouc. mainly the riverside hamlet known as An Loung. There was minimal contact no VNN casualties  One VC local force was captured. The Swifts proceeded to their objective and after an hour were taking and giving heavy fire. Charlie broke contact after a few minutes and di-di'd off into thin air. The Swifts were not allowed to enter the Truong Giang for fear of mutual interference with the ARVN blocking force. The rest of the day passed without incident. The PCFs reported no casualties.

The next morning passed quickly with the VNN resuming patrols while the PCF was pulled off the operation by some genius in Saigon. Something about priority given to sea patrols. There was a lot of sea vs river controversy going on beneath the surface at that time with the brass in Saigon firmly on the side of sea patrols for the Market Time units including the junks I figured that no RE--F in Saigon was going to save my ass from the Commie Hordes, but the Marines just might, ergo we always did our best to support the USMC operations whenever the opportunity arose. To spare my boss the heartburn, I underemphasized our ops in official traffic.

We landed a platoon of junkies and hooked up with a Platoon from the 1/1 and with our VC POW in tow set out to discover the weapons cache the little SOB had promised to show us . well Two hours later it was apparent that he was trying to set us up where his buddies could put a hurt on us and the "substance nearly hit the fan". First off my counterpart decided to hold a , 45 cal NJP on this dude which I barely was able to avert. The junkies decided that a severe asskicking would modify his attitude and I spent a lot of goodwill bringing that to a halt before it went over the top. I then pissed off the Vietnamese by turning the POW over to the Battalion Commander. Fortunately I was able to plead orders from higher authority. Since the Batt CO was none other than LTCOL John Van D. "Ding-Dong" Bell. as imposing a figure as you would ever want to encounter they believed me and all was forgiven.

We swept some seaside hootches and bumped into a small VC force. There were no VNN casualties. One VC was mortally wounded, captured and died enroute to medical attention. We returned back to base for re-supply and maintained a night patrol on the Cua Viet. The Marines had met sporadic resistance and suffered casualties mainly from Booby Traps. I later overhead a report of an LP being wiped out that night with 2 USMC KIA and 1 MIA. We never opened the river to Hoi An as that was not an objective but this small op proved the worth of the PCFs in Riverine operations which was vindicated in SEA LORDS and on these same waters by operation SEA TIGER.

As a post script to this when I was debriefed in Saigon I wrote strongly that we should employ our assets wherever the enemy was to be found, If we could kill or capture him by going up the river, then that is where we should go. The junks were as I have said, not the best platforms for extensive sea patrols, but were very useful inshore. With Sea Lords CG 14 came into its own--- wish I had been there then. By all accounts I have read, Sea Tiger was a success and remained so until after the withdrawing of US personnel and US support.

All for now...regards Tim

Part 4.     05/19/04

Here is a sea story about the junk force I am sure that you know the difference between a sea story and a fairy tale: one begins with "Once upon a time" and the other with "Now this is no s**t!" Since CG 14 was the closest junk base to Danang we had to deal with a constant flow of visitors sent by various PIOs from NAVSUPPACT and the NAVADVGRU commands there. These visitors ran the gamut from congenial and welcome guest to a major inflamed hemorrhoid.

An example of the latter was an officious four-striper from Saigon (where else)? who went out of his way to lecture me about allowing my men to swear so much. As if they didn't have a lot to swear about. One of our more interesting and likable guests was a USAF Col. who flew daily FAC over our district and three times a week invariably dropped a copy of the Stars and Stripes  onto the base. Close to the end of his tour COL B------ at my invitation, came for a two-day stay via chopper. The Vietnamese literally put on the dog at suppertime and served a very tasty if exotic supper that we all enjoyed after which we relaxed and shared a case of Army 3.2 Bud. WE scheduled a  predawn patrol by the chu-luc down the coast to the border of Quan-Tin province. Now the seacoast in that area was all barrier island and it was a free fire zone. The sea-patrol got underway with myself COL B---and the VNN CO LTJG Toan and six junkies. Mr. Toan may have had a bit of a head from the night before but he used the 60. mm mortar with no small amount of skill and with its illumination we corralled a suspicious junk with three ARVN deserters on board. We detailed our accompanying Yabuta to tow the rather large junk back to base and continued down to the provincial border which was marked by a small pagoda-like shrine just back from the beach

We received a single obligatory sniper round from the shrine as always, returned the fire with a burst of . 50 cal. and headed back North hugging the surfline

Some 30 min. later, we suddenly came under fire from a Trench line in the trees {Scrubby Australian Pine (Casurina sp)} with SA and AW fire. The fire was returned by all hands and for once Charlie decided to stay for the party. I called in the PCF and the 82' WPB on patrol in the area, for support and the fire fight was on in earnest. The Yabuta that had dropped off the captured junk arrived first and added its 30.cal to the proceedings. Soon the swift and the WPB arrived almost together, the Swift was skippered by a real hotshot named Lou Valone and he bulled the boat right into the surf with his twin 50's  hosing down the landscape. Charlie called it a day at once. The captives on the chu luc made a dive for the deckhouse where at least one BAR and a case of grenades were kept but COL B--- stopped them cold with an M-16 in their faces. This move earned those three deserters an instant  re-classification from deserters destined for heavy fatigue duty to POWs off to the pen in Danang.

My counterpart was a bit shaken when he thought of the "might have been" if those ani had gotten in the deckhouse. Now we had learned the previous night that the good Colonel was an avid yachtsman back in California. so I made a suggestion to Mr Toan.

Tim

SEA FLOAT and the Yabutas, by Bob Stoner

Story #2  I have another one on the Yabuta's: When we were on SEA FLOAT, one of the Yabuta junks towed-in another that had broken down. It seems that the disabled vessel had lost its prop along with part of the prop shaft. Water was coming in at the stuffing box (where the shaft went through the hull) so the Cambodians stuffed it with rags and forgot about it. 

The disabled junk was tied-up inboard to one of our barges and the crew promptly left their slowly sinking ship. As the junk got lower in the water, the lines got as tight as banjo strings. One of the crew came back to the boat, and when he'd finished doing what he came for -- it obviously wasn't damage control -- decided to relieve himself into the river. He dropped his drawers, wrapped his legs around the railing and hung his butt over the side. As he got down to business, the mooring lines decided to part company and the water-logged junk sank like a stone! The crewman was not seen again. 

Some of the Americans wondered whether the Cambodian equivalent of St. Peter would allow this poor soul to enter heaven when he told him that he died while taking a dump and his boat sank beneath him!

Bob Stoner

 Story #1.  One short war story about the Yabuta junks and PCFs. After SOLID ANCHOR became operational in mid-September of 1970, the junks and PCFs tied-up to barges we'd anchored to the beach. The junks would tie-up near the mouth of the canal that separated the base from the KCS camp next door and the PCFs would tie-up about 300 yards further along the shoreline. Now, the junks were manned by Cambodians (with a couple of American advisors) and the PCFs were Vietnamese (with American advisors). Cambodians and Vietnamese have been traditional enemies for over 2,000 years and just because there was another war being fought with the VC/NVA didn't stop them from fighting with each other. 

It seems that some of the VNN boys liked to "discover" personal items before their owners knew they had no further use for them. (I found one on the HSSC one day and told him to get the hell off or I'd feed him to the fish. He took off and didn't return to our boats.) The next thief made the mistake of stealing from one of the Cambodians' junks and getting caught. There was a big commotion, a shot, and the VN went tearing down the beach at full speed with a flesh wound to his leg. He did a left turn and made a beeline for his PCF. 

To say the Cambodians were upset would be a gross understatement. The wronged crewman had gathered a group of his buddies and were about to march on the PCFs with M-16s, pistols, and .30 carbines fully intending to put a permanent crimp in the thief's activities. Fortunately, the American advisors (junk and PCF) intervened. While the argument was going on, the wounded thief was quietly escorted to a Huey and flown away (never to be seen again).

Bob Stoner

"Kien Giang" Junk	Coastal Raider/ ferro-cement Junk	Command Junk	Coastal Patrol Junk 1966	Yabbies
Photos: South Vietnamese Navy