After a gun-running North Vietnamese trawler disguised as a slow-moving island was found and destroyed in Vung Ro Bay in February 1965, General William C. Westmoreland, Commander U.S. Military Assistance Command (COMUSMACV) called a conference in Saigon on 3 March 1965. The purpose of the conference was to devise a joint United States and South Vietnamese naval force to counter the problem of the re-supply by sea of North Vietnam and Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam.

Operation Market Time was born.

On 16 April 1965, the Secretary of the U.S. Navy wrote the Secretary of the Treasury:

 The U.S. Navy is confronted with a new and difficult problem…The Navy must ensure that logistic support via sea does not reach the Viet Cong in South Vietnam from North Vietnam from communist countries or communist sympathizers.

At the present time, Seventh Fleet units are being employed to prevent  sea infiltration into South Vietnam.  However, we find such ships suffer major disadvantages in conducting patrols against shallow draft junks.  We are therefore attempting to locate a source of more suitable patrol craft.  Such characteristics as high speed, shallow draft, sea keeping ability, radar, and communication equipment are important characteristics.

In investigating possible sources of suitable craft it has occurred to us that the Coast Guard may have some patrol craft available which the Navy Department may be able to use[1]

Coast Guard and Navy officials met to discuss the type and number of boats and how to use them. On 29 April 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized Coast Guard units to operate with the Navy in Vietnam.

Within days cutters pulled into shipyards for modifications.  Three weeks later they were hoisted aboard freighters for transfer to the Philippines.  The Coast Guard patrol force was designated Squadron One.  It would have two hundred forty-five men (47 officers, 192 enlisted) and 17 patrol boats.

At 1600 hours on 16 July 1965, six white-hulled 82’ WPBs left the U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay in the Philippines and rendezvoused with the tank landing ship escort, USS Snohomish County (LST-1126).  The escort ship was necessary because of the distance involved between the Philippines and Vietnam.  The 82s would have to re-fuel at sea about half way to their ultimate destination.

The weather was fine and the crossing was uneventful.  Even the re-fueling of the six vessels was uneventful and took approximately 45 minutes per WPB.  At 0700 on 20 July 1965, the first units filed into the South Vietnamese naval base at Danang Harbor.  This was just 82 days after the public announcement that the Coast Guard was going to war.

At 0700 on 28 July 1965, the nine cutters of Division 11 left Subic Bay for Vietnam accompanied by their escort, USS Floyd County (LST 702).  Unfortunately, this flotilla had to fight the Southwest Monsoon with 30 knot winds and 15-foot seas.  Under these conditions, the refueling of the nine cutters took over eleven hours.  Fortunately there were no injuries or vessel damage…a tribute to the seamanship skills of the Coast Guard and the Navy doing something neither had ever done before.

After five brutal days at sea, the convoy rested at the South Vietnamese base at Con Son Island at the entrance of the Gulf of Thailand.

After resting one day and entering the Gulf of Thailand, the Operation Market Time Force Commander ordered three of the cutters out on patrol and the rest proceeded to their new home base in An Thoi.

Welcome to Vietnam.

[1]Scotti, Paul C. Coast Guard Action in Vietnam, page 8.