| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Coast Guard Yard 1960-63, 1970; J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. 1966-67 |
| Operators: | United States Coast Guard |
| Preceded by: | Cape class 95' patrol boat |
| Succeeded by: | Marine Protector class 87' patrol boat |
| Built: | 1960-1970 |
| In commission: | 1960-2003 |
| Completed: | 79 |
| Retired: | 79 |
| Career (USA) | |
| Name: | USCGC Point Clear (WPB-82315) |
| Namesake: | Point Clear, Alabama |
| Owner: | United States Coast Guard |
| Builder: | Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland |
| Commissioned: | 26 April 1961 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 September 1969 |
| Honors and awards: |
Navy Unit Commendation[1] Vietnam Service Medal with 2 silver service stars |
| Fate: | Transferred to Republic of Vietnam Navy as RVNS Huỳnh Văn Đức (HQ-702), 15 September 1969[2][3] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Patrol Boat (WPB) |
| Displacement: | 60 tons |
| Length: | 82 ft 10 in (25.25 m) |
| Beam: | 17 ft 7 in (5.36 m) max |
| Draft: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × 600 hp (447 kW) Cummins diesel engines |
| Speed: | 16.8 knots (31.1 km/h; 19.3 mph) |
| Range: | 577 nmi (1,069 km) at 14.5 kn (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) 1,271 nmi (2,354 km) at 10.7 kn (19.8 km/h; 12.3 mph) |
| Complement: | Domestic service: 8 men Vietnam service: 2 officers, 8 men |
| Armament: | 1961 • 1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon Vietnam service • 5 × M2 Browning machine guns • 1 × 81 mm M29 mortar[4] |
USCGC Point Clear (WPB-82315) was an 82-foot Point-class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1961 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1960 was not to name cutters under 100 feet (30 m) in length, it was designated as WPB-82315 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Clear in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (20 m).[2][5]
Contents |
Point Clear was built with a mild steel hull and an aluminum superstructure that could accommodate an 8 man crew.[6] She was powered by two 600 horsepower VT600 Cummins diesel main drive engines and had two five bladed 42 inch propellers. The main drive engines were later replaced by 800 horsepower VT800 Cummins engines. Longitudinally framed construction was used to save weight. Water tank capacity was 1,550 US gallons (5,900 L) and fuel tank capacity was 1,840 US gallons (7,000 L) at 95% full. Frozen food storage was 23 cubic feet (0.65 m3). Accommodations for a 13 man crew were installed for Vietnam service.[2][6][7][8]
After delivery in 1961, Point Clear was assigned a homeport of San Pedro, California, where she served as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.[2]
At the request of the United States Navy, in April 1965, she was alerted for service in Vietnam and assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One in support of Operation Market Time along with 16 other Point class cutters.[9][10] While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, Point Clear was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to Subic Bay, Philippines in May 1965 where she was refit for combat service.[2] Shipyard modifications included installation of new single-sideband radio equipment, additional floodlights, small arms lockers, bunks, additional sound-powered phone circuits, and the addition of four M-2 machine guns. The original bow mounted machine gun was replaced with a combination over-under .50 caliber machine gun/81 mm trigger fired mortar that had been developed by the Coast Guard for service in Vietnam.[2][4][10][11] For service in Vietnam, two officers were added to the crew complement to add seniority to the crew in the mission of interdicting vessels at sea.[12]
Point Clear was assigned to Division 11 of Squadron One to be based at An Thoi, a small fishing village on the southern tip of Phú Quốc Island along with Point Banks, Point Comfort, Point Garnet, Point Glover, Point Grey, Point Marone, Point Mast and Point Young. After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Phu Quoc on 17 July 1965 in the company of USS Floyd County (LST-762), their temporary support ship. After almost two weeks at sea, they arrived at their new duty station on 1 August and began patrolling the waters in the Gulf of Thailand near the Cà Mau Peninsula.[13][14] Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board. During September 1965, USS Krishna (ARL-38), a repair ship outfitted for the repair of WPB's relieved the USS Floyd County. Also during this time, the WPB's were directed to paint the hulls and superstructures formula 20 deck gray to cover the stateside white paint. This increased the effectiveness of night patrols.[15]
Point Clear was credited with helping stop the overrun of the ARVN outpost at Hà Tiên[16] on 20 October 1965 by firing her machine guns and lobbing mortar rounds near the perimeter of the compound.[17] On 14 February 1966, Point Clear came to the rescue of a U.S. Navy Swift boat which had been sunk by a command detonated mine in shallow water near Rạch Giá.[18] She provided covering fire with machine guns and the 81 mm mortar while Navy personnel from other PCF's evacuated the injured and recovered bodies and equipment from the wreckage.[19]
On 15 September 1969, Point Clear was turned over to the Republic of Vietnam Navy as part of the Vietnamization of the war effort and recommissioned as RVNS Huỳnh Văn Đức (HQ-702).[2][3]
|
||||||||