By: Gerald A. McGill

On 29 February 1968, the Point Welcome returned to Danang from a four-day patrol in Area 1 Golf, 70 miles southeast of Danang.  Since we were headed home we did not feel the need to conserve fuel so we were running at our best cruising speed of 15 knots.  The trip took about four and a half hours.  We arrived in Danang about 16:30.

We moored outside of three or four WPBs which were moored alongside a large U.S. Navy support ship.  As usual, as soon as we were moored, we began taking on fuel, water, and food supplies.

 About 15 minutes later, the Division 12 Commander, Cdr. (O-5) Richard Bauman crossed the inboard WPBs and came aboard the Welcome.  This was a little unusual as normally our post patrol de-briefing took place in the conference room aboard the Navy ship.

Commander Bauman was not a Coast Guard Academy graduate.  He graduated in 1943 (the year I was born) from what is now the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.  He served in the Merchant Marine as Third Mate on the liberty ship Stephen C. Foster, which off loaded bombs on Omaha Beach at Normandy from shortly after D-Day in June 1944 until that September.  He served as a Merchant Marine Officer for 14 years until he joined the Coast Guard in 1957.

When Cdr. Bauman came aboard the Pt Welcome he asked me, “How soon can you get underway?’”

I replied, “20 minutes sir, 30 minutes max.”

“Good”, he replied, “You’ll be going back out.”

I told him, “The only problem is, I let two of my petty officers go ashore to the Post Exchange.”

He asked if I would take two comparable petty officers from the other in port boats. 

I had no problem with this as everyone in Squadron One had gone through the same training.   I told Cdr. Bauman I needed an Electronics Technician and a Gunners Mate.  Fortunately we were able to find one of each aboard the other WPBs.

Then Cdr. Bauman said something that surprised me, “Captain, with your permission I would like to ride on the Point Welcome with you.”

He continued, “This is your boat.  You make the decisions and I will not interfere.” I had no problem with any of that and we soon departed.

As we got underway, Cdr. Bauman told me that the previous evening, a P-2 Neptune aircraft had detected what was believed to be a North Vietnamese SL-class naval trawler heading towards the South Vietnamese coast from just north of the DMZ. The trawler in question was a steel hulled vessel, 100 feet long, flying no flags to identify its origins.

By the next day, three additional trawlers of similar description had been discovered along the coast. This appeared to be a coordinated movement in what we knew could be an attempt to smuggle weapons and other materiel to the VC.

One trawler was observed to be approximately 150 miles (240 km) south of the DMZ. The USCGC Androscoggin had taken this trawler under surveillance with a plan to intercept as necessary. We were heading south to assist.  

For the first hour underway, we ran “general quarters” drills to integrate the new crew members.  The individual Captains of the WPBs had the discretion to assign crew members among the positions as he felt best.  For example, I always put my ET on the bridge where the radar screen and other electronic gear were located. It was also my practice to have the gunner’s mate man a 50-caliber machine gun on the fantail. With four machine guns back there I felt that if anything was going to jam that’s where it would happen.

The Welcome was joined by the Point Grey and several U.S. Navy swift boats. We secured from GQ drills to eat dinner and rest up for what I expected to be a long night.

At about 0100 on the morning of 1 March the Androscoggin challenged the trawler as it closed to within seven miles (11 km) of the coast. The trawler fired on the Cutter with recoilless rifle and machine gun fire and began speeding towards the beach. (1) 

At this time, the Pt. Welcome joined the chase. We were accompanied by the Pt. Grey, two U.S.N. Swift boats and two U.S. Army helicopters.

Commander Bauman and I were on the bridge along with my ET and a helmsman. At about 0140, we were ordered to take the trawler under fire.  My men illuminated the target with rounds fired from our 81 mm mortar.  The trawler grounded 50 yards (46 m) from the mouth of the Song Tha Cau river.  At this time, we hit the target with two high explosive mortar rounds. 

Moments after we fired our mortar rounds, the trawler exploded, sending steel shrapnel into the air so thick that I later learned the Point Welcome’s radar signal disappeared from the Androscoggin’s radar screen and they thought we were lost.  At least two of the trawler’s crew were killed in the explosion and a third was wounded.  

The two cutters were showered with debris from the explosions and it is a miracle we suffered no personnel casualties.  The Point Welcome’s forward windows were completely blown out.  We eventually realized that the port and aft windows were actually blown out from the inside by shrapnel passing through the bridge.  “That’s the closest I ever came to buying it.” Cdr. Bauman later told friends.

As the shrapnel was raining down, three of the crew members manning the .50 caliber machine guns on the stern took shelter under the Boston whaler small boat which was tied down on the stern. I will never forget this.

After the fight was over, we discovered a bent carbine bayonet under the small boat. It had come from the trawler. Apparently, the force of the trawler’s explosions was sufficient to bend a steel bayonet and blow it 500 yards through the air.  When the incident was written up for military news, the press release included a photo of the bayonet, referring to it as an “unexpected souvenir.”  

After the firefight, most units were returned to their normal patrol areas. We stayed in the area for two days providing security for VNN Junk Force and US Navy divers during recovery operations.

Materiel that the trawler had been carrying was found scattered for 2000 yards in all directions. The following items were discovered: approximately 600 K-44 carbines, one 12.7 heavy machine gun, eleven 7.62 light machine guns, 41 sub-machine guns and one 57 mm recoilless rifle, plus multiple rounds of ammunition of all types, as well as medical and personal gear.

In later years, I learned that three of the North Vietnamese trawlers involved in this attempted infiltration had been destroyed by U.S. and R.V.N. armed forces. The fourth vessel turned around and headed back to the South China sea, where it was visually trailed until it approached the Chinese coastline.

Rear Admiral Richard Bauman retired in 1983 as the Commander of the 1st Coast Guard District in Boston.  He died at the age of 80 on 15 February, 2005 at his home in Annandale, VA.

  • (1) See Larzelere, Alex (1997). The Coast Guard at War, Vietnam, 1965-1975. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis.