Swift Boat Down
This book is dedicated to the crew of PCF-19, sunk off the coast of North Vietnam on June 16, 1968. Four men were killed that night under very unusual circumstances. Only now can their story be told.
What follows is the a true account of what really happened as recalled by the survivors of PCF-19, PCF-12, USCG Point Dume , U.S. Marines ashore and men stationed aboard U.S. Navy ships operating in the area. The facts now revealed in the official deck logs and the memories of the men who were there differ from the news media coverage of the story. Sunk by friendly fire was the newspaper story, a story that reveals a reluctance to accuse an enemy of escalation during a time when the Paris peace talks were being organized. This was a great disservice to these brave men aboard PCF-19 and a terrible burden for the F-4 phantom pilot who was blamed for the incident in the press.
The story will be told in three parts. First, I will give some background into the mission and the conditions in the area leading up to the incident. Second, the incident as it actually happened as related by witnesses aboard ships and the official account of that night. Third, the follow-up investigation by others and myself to reach the conclusion of hostile fire causing the sinking of PCF-19 was based on official logs and records and eye witness accounts. A summary of the details backed by documented proof of hostile fire will detail the real story behind the sinking of PCF-19. Nothing can change the “official findings” of the command authority at the time but the truth as I observed it from the deck of PCF-12 would now be told.
Coastal Warfare against the Vietcong
This book documents and tells the history of the establishment and growth of the Coastal Surveillance Force, Task Force 71. This grew to Task Forces 115, 116, and 117. My research for this history came from veterans serving in this period, the experiences of this author, and the documentation of the Commander Naval Forces Vietnam (COMNAVFORV) Monthly Summaries. These documents did not exist before January 1966, so the early period was dependent on veterans and James Steffes’ personal knowledge.
This book is dedicated to those pioneers of the Small Boat Navy’s very successful war against a stubborn enemy. It is important to point out that this is a book of fiction, and the names of the characters are fictional. This was used to make the significant incidents more alive while retaining the accurate details of the action. Much of the COMNAVFORV summaries were also paraphrased for effect while retaining the factual accounts stated in the records. The photographs and map images are placed around the book to help former military and nonmilitary folks identify with the many units and terms used in the text. The images and photographs are either my personal items or from the COMNAVFORV Monthly Summaries.
Coastal Warfare Against the Viet Cong: Volume Three (1968)
This is Volume Three of the story of the Coastal Surveillance Forces War against the Viet Cong in 1968. Their mission was to prevent infiltration by sea by monitoring shipping and junk traffic inside the twelve-mile limit of the coastline. These inshore forces were augmented by Seventh Fleet Ships and Patrol Aircraft extending far out to sea, monitoring the large cargo ships and steel-hulled junks to make certain that they were not trying to smuggle arms and supplies to the Viet Cong forces.
In addition to these forces, large seagoing vessels of the Vietnamese Navy as well as minesweeping and minelaying vessels have been added to patrol the main shipping waterways and inner harbor areas used by the commercial shipping ships. Added to the harbor defenses are small patrol craft, some with minesweeping gear to patrol around anchored vessels.
