| 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 Comfort (WPB-82317) |
| Namesake: | Old Point Comfort, Virginia |
| Owner: | United States Coast Guard |
| Builder: | Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland |
| Commissioned: | 24 May 1961 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 Nov 1969 |
| Honors and awards: |
Presidential Unit Citation (Navy)[1] Navy Unit Commendation[2] Vietnam Service Medal with 2 silver and 1 bronze service stars |
| Fate: | Transferred to Republic of Vietnam Navy as RVNS Đào Thức (HQ-704), 17 Nov 1969[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 Comfort (WPB-82317) was an 82 foot USCG 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 1961 was not to name cutters under 100 feet in length, it was designated as WPB-82317 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Comfort in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet.[5][6]
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Point Comfort was built with a mild steel hull and an aluminum superstructure that could accommodate an 8 man crew. She was powered by two 600 horsepower VT600 Cummins diesel main drive engines and had two five bladed 42 inches (1.1 m) 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.[5][6][7][8]
After delivery in 1961, Point Comfort was assigned a homeport of Benicia, California, where she served as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.[5]
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 Comfort was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to Subic Bay, Philippines in May 1965 where she was refit for combat service.[5] Shipyard modifications included installation of new single-sideband radio equipment, additional floodlights, small arms lockers, 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/81mm trigger fired mortar that had been developed by the Coast Guard for service in Vietnam.[4][5][11][12] 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.[13]
Point Comfort 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 Clear, 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.[14] Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board. During one such boarding evolution on 7 August, Point Comfort came under fire from the shoreline in her first battle confrontation. A United States Air Force L-19 spotter plane attempted to warn Point Comfort of a Viet Cong machine gun nest near their position along the shoreline, but had no way to communicate with her except by flares dropped from the aircraft. The cutter crew didn't understand what was happening until they came under fire from the enemy gun position. Radio communications procedures were improved after this incident.[15] 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.[16]
Point Comfort along with Point Grey assisted Special Forces and Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) personnel in a raid of Hon Mot Island on 27 September 1965 providing transportation and medical evacuation for the raiding party.[17]
On 17 November 1969, Point Comfort was turned over to the South Vietnamese Navy as part of the Vietnamization of the war effort and recommissioned as RVNS Đào Thức (HQ-704).[5][3]
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