Mobile Riverine Force

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In the Vietnam War, the Mobile Riverine Force (MRF), or Riverines, were a joint US Army and US Navy force that comprised a substantial part of the Brown Water Navy. It was modeled after lessons learned by the French experience in the First Indochina War and had the task of both transport (of soldiers and equipment) and combat. The primary base was at Dong Tam, with a floating base at the base of the Mekong River. It played a key role in the Tet offensive.

The Mobile Riverine Force was originally conceived as providing an all weather "strike" capability in the Mekong Delta, to actively prosecute contact with Viet Cong units in the Vietnam War. A "strike" force was inherently and essentially different from the existing Navy interdiction and patrol forces (the River Patrol Boats of Operation Game Warden, and the coastal blockade of Operation Market Time). The Delta presented a classic venue appropriate to riverine operations such as had not been seen since the Union Navy in the (American Civil War) Mississippi Delta, and Sino-American operations in WW II. The Delta had a dearth of reliable roadways, all with predictable choke points at bridges, a literal myriad of creeks, streams, rivers, and canals, frequent monsoon conditions restricting air operations, and mud, mud, mud.

A wide range of riverine craft were used by the allies, both before, and during the formalization of the US Navy Brown Water Navy, in 1964-1965. Foremost were the surplus WWII US naval crafts; LCM's, LCVP's, LSM's, PGM's, MTB's, LSSL's, etc. One of the most popular riverine craft was the LCM which converted nicely into a naval monitor, and was used by the French during the first Indochina war; and later by the US and South Vietnamese Navys. However, The French, during their war in Vietnam (1945-1954), had been heavily inspired by the US Navy LCVP, which they had received from the US, as part of the United States massive assistance program to fight communism (US Forces were fighting in Korea, at that time, and could only give material aid). The French took the LCVP design and created an all new, and as it turned out, the only "original" or entirely new boat built for riverine warfare during the French Indochina war; the STCAN (a corruption of the acronym STCN, which stood for the French equivalent of the US Navy's BuShips, which read Service Technique Construction Navale). The French STCAN was built of steel, approximately 40 feet long, "V" hulled, with a shiplike bow, was armed with one .50 cal machingun, three .30 cal machinguns, and eight crewmen. [1]

It was the French STCAN which, in 1965 inspired the construction of the only US Navy riverine boat which was specifically built for the Vietnam War; the ASPB, "Alpha" boat. Unlike the US Navy aluminum 50 foot Swift boat (PCF) and the nicknamed "plastics", the PBR (fiberglass) 31 foot Patrol Boat River, which were taken, right off of the civilian boat market shelves; The ASPB, was designed, built, and baptised in blood, on 30 September 1967, having arrived in Vietnam only 10 days earlier, on 20 September l967. [1]

The Assault Support Patrol Boat (ASPB), better known as the "Alpha" boat, was approximately 50 feet long, its hull was constructed of 7/32 inch steel, from the gunwale 2" up it was 1/8 inch steel, its superstructure was 1/4 inch aluminum. It was armed with two Mk 48 turrets with either 20 mm or .50 cal machine guns, two single 7.62 mm machine guns, one 81 mm mortar, a dragging chain for mine sweeping the river, and had a complement of five crewmen. The boat itself, was built especially strong to resist the explosion of mines; consequently, the "Alpha" boat is mainly remembered for its riverine mine-sweeping duties. [1]

The Mobile Riverine Force concept paired newly created assault boat units with a brigade of Army infantry. Originally two, and ultimately four Navy Assault Squadrons were created: River Assault Squadrons 9, 11, 13, and 15. The 2nd Brigade of the U.S. 9th Infantry Division was assigned to work with these units. A fixed land base was created by dredging a portion of the Song Ham Luong near My Tho, and was named "Dong Tam." This became the administrative headquarters of the MRF.

Nonetheless, the Navy created a floating Mobile Riverine Base (MRB) by assigning barracks ships, and barrage barges (non-self propelled) to house both Army and Navy personnel, provide communications and staff support, mooring and support facilities on Ammi pontoons alongside, and refit, rearm, and resupply stores. The MRB also included repair ships (ARLs), and supply ships (LSTs-Landing Ship Tanks). The ships of the MRB also had helicopter landing capabilities, and provided air resupply and medical air evacuation ("dust off") capability, and had significant medical care facilities aboard. Thus, the entire force could move through out the major rivers of the Delta, and launch troops, on boats, into assault operations deep into the narrowest rivulets and canals. Given the low limit speed of perhaps 6 knots (or less if opposing the fierce lower Delta currents), this "MOBILE" capability made boat assault operations in the furthest reaches of the Delta feasible.

Eventually, the MRF included Army floating artillery and mortar barges, which could be moved throughout the Delta and positioned to support the planned area of each assault operation. Integral air support came from newly created Navy gunship helicopter squadron HAL 3 (Helicopter Attack, Light), the SEAWOLVES, based at Dong Tam. This was additional to such air support, both troop insertion and gunfire ships, as the Army tasked to each operation, and air support from Air Force TAC air units on call.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Friedman, Norman. "U.S. Small Combatants, Including PT-Boats, Subchasers, and the Brown-Water Navy. 1987. ISBN 0-87021-7135
  • Steffes, James, ENC Retired. "Swift Boat Down, The Real Story of the Sinking of PCF-19." 2006. ISBN 1-59926-6121