USCGC Point League (WPB-823304) forces North Vietnamese trawler aground near Ba Song, RVN, 20 June 1966. |
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| 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 League (WPB-82304) |
| Owner: | United States Coast Guard |
| Builder: | Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland |
| Commissioned: | 9 November 1960 |
| Decommissioned: | 16 May 1969 |
| Honors and awards: |
Navy Unit Commendation[1] Vietnam Service Medal with 1 silver and 3 bronze service stars |
| Fate: | Transferred to Republic of Vietnam Navy as RVNS Lê Phước Đức (HQ-700), 16 May 1969[2] |
| 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: | 1960 • 1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon Vietnam service • 5 × M2 Browning machine guns • 1 × 81 mm M29 mortar[3] |
USCGC Point League (WPB-82304) was an 82-foot Point class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1960 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 in length, it was designated as WPB-82304 when commissioned and acquired the name Point League in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet.[4][5]
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Point League 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.[4][6][7][8]
After delivery in 1960, Point League was assigned a homeport of Morgan City, Louisiana, where she served as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.[4]
At the request of the United States Navy, in October 1965, she was alerted for service in Vietnam and assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One in support of Operation Market Time along with 8 other Point class cutters.[9][10] While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, Point League was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to Subic Bay, Philippines arriving in January 1966 where she was refit for combat service.[4] 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 4 M-2 machine guns. The original Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 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.[3][4][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]
While finishing training exercises at Subic Bay the main drive engine alarms sounded on the bridge and during an investigation by the cutter's engineers it was found that major damage had occurred to one of the main drive engines. Overhaul parts were sent from Division 12 in Danang and the cutter engineers completed the overhaul and initial run-in of the engine in 72 hours, just in time for the scheduled departure of the division for Vietnam. The final break-in of the repaired engine was completed while in transit.[14]
Point League was assigned to Division 13 of Squadron One to be based at Cat Lo Navy Base near Vung Tau, along with Point Cypress, Point Grace, Point Hudson, Point Jefferson, Point Kennedy, Point Partridge, Point Slocum and Point White. After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Cat Lo on 19 February 1966 in the company of USS Forster (DER-334), their temporary support ship. They arrived at their new duty station on 23 February and began patrolling the coastal waters near the Rung Sat Special Zone.[15][16] Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board.
On 20 June 1966 Point League along with Point Hudson and Point Slocum assisted with the capture of a North Vietnamese trawler loaded with ammunition near the mouth of the Cổ Chiên River.[4][17][18]
During the month of September 1966 Point League responded to a distress call from the SS Dragonfly by helping dewater a flooded compartment and putting one of the cutter's engineers on the merchant ship temporarily to replace the injured chief engineer.[19]
As a part of the Vietnamization Program South Vietnamese Navy crewmen were assigned to the cutter for training purposes beginning in February 1969. After the crew of Point League trained a Vietnamese replacement crew, she was turned over to the Republic of Vietnam Navy as a part of the Vietnamization Program and recommissioned as RVNS Lê Văn Ngà (HQ-701), 16 May 1969 at the Saigon Navy Base. She was the first Squadron One cutter to be turned over to Vietnamese control, the second being Point Garnet which was turned over during the same recommissioning ceremony.[2][4]
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