Category Archives: vietnam

Royal Blue

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It happened 50 years ago today.

A great original Kodachrome with an air-to-air right side view of a “hump-backed” A-4F Skyhawk (BuNo 154975) of the “Royal Blues” of Attack Squadron (VA) 127, on 21 July 1975. Hot rods, they carried J52-P-408 engines with 11,200 lbf of thrust on an aircraft with an empty weight of 10,450 pounds.

Scene Camera Operator: PH3 Stoner. DN-SC-88-06702, National Archives Identifier 6430109

Established 15 June 1962 at NAS Lemoore with a complement of F-9F/TF-9J Cougar, VA-127 soon switched to Skyhawks. At the time of the above image, the Royal Blues were the only A-4 Replacement Air Wing squadron in the Navy, a role that switched to a primary mission of adversary training by November 1975. Switching to T-38B/F-5Es in 1987, just after they became the “Cylons” in an ode to Battlestar Galactica, they briefly flew F-18s as the “Desert Bogeys” out of NAS Fallon until they were disestablished in 1996.

As for BuNo 154975, she arrived in the fleet in 1967, then flew with VA-113, VA-192, and VA-212, seeing time on Yankee Station from USS Hancock (CV-19), before serving almost a decade with VA-127 starting in 1973, and was loaned to the Blues for a period.

It was in Blue No. 5 Livery that she and her pilot, LCDR Stuart R Powrie (USNA ’70), 34, was killed when the airframe crashed in the Imperial Valley desert near the Salton Sea following the completion of a maneuver called “the clean loop-dirty loop” while flying from NAS El Centro, on 22 February 1982.

Welcome, Denton

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The future USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), the third Flight III advanced Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be built at Ingalls, was christened in Pascagoula on Saturday.

The ship’s name honors RADM Jeremiah Denton Jr., (USNA 1947), a Vietnam War veteran who earned the Navy Cross for his heroism as a prisoner of war. Denton spent 34 years as a naval aviator, including eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam after his Intruder was shot down while flying from USS Independence (CV-62).

He is known for his act of genius during a televised broadcast in captivity, when Denton spelled out the word “torture” through Morse code using his eyes to blink the code signal lamp-style.

Daughters of the RADM Denton, Madeleine Denton Doak and Mary Denton Lewis, performed the traditional bottle-breaking ceremony against the bow to formally christen the ship.

Ingalls has delivered 35 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the U.S. Navy, including the first Flight III, USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125), in June 2023. In addition, Ingalls Shipbuilding has five Flight IIIs currently under construction, including Ted Stevens (DDG 128), Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), George M. Neal (DDG 131), Sam Nunn (DDG 133), and Thad Cochran (DDG 135).

Mortars and Sandals

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Between February 22 and 28 1951, Haiduong (French Indochina, now Vietnam).

Elements of the locally recruited Bataillon de Marche Indochinois (BMI) advance through rice paddies during Operation Marécages. During this operation, the search of villages (Le Thon, Hong Tien, Phung Do, and Phung Xa) allowed the capture of Viet Minh partisans who had hidden in underground hiding places and shelters.

Note the mix of French and British kit, the nonchalantly carried 43-pound 60mm Brandt Mle 1935 light mortar (including very local footwear), and MAS-36 7.5mm rifle.

Ref.: TONK 51-28 R31, Guy Defives/ECPAD/Defense

The BMI was formed in January 1948 as the Annamite Bataillon, largely from the remnants of the five assorted Tirailleurs Indochinois regiments that dated to the 1880s and had fought against the Germans in WWI then the Japanese and Thais in WWII.

The five regiments of Tirailleurs Indochinois fought in numerous campaigns across Southeast Asia between 1880 and 1947 including forming 27 rifle battalions during the Great War, several of which fought in Europe.

With the lineage of the old Tirailleurs Indochinois– indeed carrying the flag and honors of the old 1er régiment de tirailleurs tonkinois (1er RTT)—  the Annamite Bataillon was redesignated the BMI in 1950 and was something of an elite unit over the tail-end of the French war against the Viet Minh.

Note the black beret, a standard headgear for the unit, complete with its distinctive dragon and anchor badge. (Bataillon de Marche Indochinois (BMI) advance through rice paddies during Operation Marécages. )

Based south of the Tonkin Delta, theirs was a war of sharp actions among the rice fields and brown water.
Once the Geneva Accords went through in 1954, the BMI was disbanded and many of its members– who had elected to remain in the French Army rather than join the ARVN– joined the 1st battalion of the 43e Régiment dInfanterie de Coloniale (43e RIC), bound for service in Algeria.

8-inch Howie still on Watch

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The U.S. military perfected a self-propelled 8-inch howitzer in the early 1960s using the same Detroit Diesel 8V71T-powered double-tracked hull as the M107 175mm gun, only fitted with a short-barreled (25.3 caliber) 203mm M2A2 howitzer. The resulting gun, the M110, was improved in the 1980s with the longer-barreled (43-caliber) M201 203mm gun, complete with a double-baffle muzzle brake, in the follow-on M110A1/A2 variants.

US Army 8-inch gun Vietnam M110 SP, short tube

Vietnam 8-inch gun at Oasis 1968 D Battery, 5/16th FA, SP Howitzer M110 Diablo II. Note that short tube

Vietnam 8-inch gun at Oasis 1968 D Battery, 5/16th FA, SP Howitzer M110 Diablo II. 

1976 Rock Island Arsenal M110E1 203 mm 8-in Self-Propelled Howitzer with Muzzle Break

Used extensively in Vietnam and during the Cold War (the latter including a watch on the Fulda Gap, complete with the M426 chemical, M422, and M753 nuclear shells), a total of 1,163 M110 systems had been manufactured by the time the line ended in 1985.

American gunners of B Bty, 6 Bn, 27th Artillery, fire an M110 8-inch howitzer during a fire support mission at LZ Hong, approx. 12 km northeast of Song Be, South Vietnam. 26 March 1970.

3rd and 4th Armored Division artillerymen watching over W33 Atomic shell near M110 Self-Propelled Howitzer circa 1970. At 40 kilotons, it was double the yield of Hiroshima. It used tritium boosting to get more power.

Replaced by the 270mm MLRS in U.S. service in 1994 following a swan song in the first Gulf War, the Pentagon shopped around the low-round count M110A2s still on hand to assorted customers in the Middle East/Mediterranean in Bahrain, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Morocco, and Pakistan, most of which still have them.

Also, Taiwan got a boatload, of which 70 are still in front-line service, as seen in this recent moto video from the country’s military, loading their 200-pound shells via hydraulic rammers and blasting them offshore at ranges under 26,000 yards.

Muddy Rampage

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It happened 80 years ago this week.

Official period caption: “Soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division walk past mud-clogged tanks parked by the side of the road on Okinawa. 26 May 1945.”

U.S. Signal Corps Photo SC 208600. U.S. National Archives

The “tanks” are actually one of the more rarely seen armored vehicles in American service in WWII, the M8 Scott, an early 75mm self-propelled howitzer.

Offically known as “Howitzer Motor Carriage M8,” it picked up the easier moniker in a ode to “Old Fuss n Feathers” himself, Gen.Winfield Scott– the War of 1812 vet who lead the Army during the war with Mexico and the first year of the Civil War who later passed away at West Point just shy of his 80th birthday.

The M8 HMC was an interesting stop-gap vehicle. It used the hull, engine, tracks, and guts of the M5 Stuart light tank. It then substituted the 37mm popgun and the Stuart’s tiny turret for a new open-topped turret armed with a 75mm L18 M2 or M3 howitzer—an artillery piece that was essentially just an M1 howitzer modified for use in a vehicle.

Some 1,778 Scotts were made by the Cadillac division of General Motors from September 1942 to January 1944, and they were very useful in hill fighting due to the high angle of their guns.

“Members of the 758th Light Tank Bn. (Colored) fire their 75mm howitzer in support of infantry movements on the Fifth Army front. 4 April, 1945.” SC 329839

SC 329839 758th Light Tank Bn M8 Scott April 1945 4 April, 1945

M8 Scott HMC 75 howitzer passing a knocked-out Panther

Note that this M8 HMC is named “Laxative.”

M8 troop E, 106th Cavalry Recon Group, Karlsbrunn 6 February 1945

Post-war, they were quickly withdrawn, replaced with 105mm SPGs, but they went on to serve with U.S. allies such as Mexico and the KMT Army in exile in Taiwan for another two decades. They saw particularly hard Cold War service in Vietnam, first by the French and then by the Cambodians and South Vietnamese who inherited them.

M8 Scott 75mm howitzer motor carrier, October 1950, Pingtung exercise, ROC Taiwan, KMT

May 8, 1952 – French Indochina. A 75mm M8 howitzer advances on the Lang Khe road. Ref.: TONK 52-122 R37. © Raymond Varoqui/ECPAD/Defense

Smokin pic

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It happened 60 years ago today.

Official period caption: “The shadow of a U.S. Navy photograph reconnaissance jet passes near a burning Communist Vietnamese PT boat after it was blasted by U.S. Seventh Fleet aircraft from aircraft carriers USS Midway (CV 41) and USS Hancock (CV 19). This was one of the five PT boats destroyed by U.S. Navy aircraft on April 28, 1965. The boats were spotted in the Song Giang River near the Quang Khe Naval Base (located some 50 miles north of the 17th Parallel) despite heavy camouflage. A total of 58 Navy aircraft (28 strike and 30 support types) took part in the day-long attack. All were recovered safely.”

330-PSA-81-65 (USN 711478)

The silhouette is unmistakably that of a Crusader, making it either from Hancock’s embarked CVW-21’s Light Photographic Squadron (VFP) 63 Det. L or Midway’s CVW-2’s VFP-63 Det A, both of which flew RF-8A photo birds during that time.

While not made in big numbers (just 144 constructed), the RF-8A was key in Cold War history, playing a critical role during the Cuban Missile Crisis spotting Russian missile sites. In 1957, five years before becoming the first man to orbit the Earth, Marine Major John Herschel Glenn Jr. made the first supersonic transcontinental flight in “Project Bullet,” a photo Crusader, cruising from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8.3 seconds, averaging 725.55mph. It would have been faster had he not had to slow for three aerial refuelings. Glenn’s on-board camera likewise took the first continuous, transcontinental panoramic photograph of the United States.

For what it is worth, postwar analysis shows that the Vietnam People’s Navy lost three Chinese-supplied Type 55A (NATO Shantou or “Swatow” class) gunboats on 28 April 1968 at Song Gianh, South Vietnam: T-161, T-163, and T-173. Two others, though roughed up a bit by Navy air and follow-on strikes by USAF F-105 Thunderchief, were able to limp away to fight another day. The 82-foot steel-hulled diesel-powered boats were based on the Soviet P-6 class (Project 183) PT boats (which themselves were based on American-built Elco and Higgins mosquito boats delivered to Uncle Joe during WWII via Lend-lease), but only carried guns and depth charges, not torpedoes and were notable for their involvement in the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964.

Just in case things get rowdy

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50 years ago today.

Official period caption, 1st Marine Brigade aboard the carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) on 28 April 1975. Operation Frequent Wind. “Sgt. M.C. Murdock, assigned as a side gunner in one of the CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463) onboard the USS Hancock, poses beside the .50 caliber machine gun prior to flying into Saigon for evacuation exercises.”

Marine Photo A150915 (091-0850-86-75) by: GySgt.D.L.Sbearer, via NARA 127-GVB-279-A150915

Founded originally as a SBD bombing squadron (VMB-463) in 1944, by 1966 HMH-463 was reborn hard as a CH-53 unit and not only served in Frequent Wind– the evacuation of Saigon– but also in Eagle Pull, the evac of Phnom Penh two weeks prior.  

The number of fleeing refugees they could pack on a CH-53, once the gloves were off and pressure on, was amazing, as retold by retired Sgt. Maj. Michael G. Zacker:

“Our 53s were picking up 60 (evacuees). On our second load, we took on three sticks since we had no problem with 60, so then we had 90 aboard. On the third flight, we still had room on the ramp, and so we waved the CIA guy to have him send another stick. With a six-man crew and about 120 passengers, we left the DAO compound just east of Saigon for the Hancock at sea.”

HMH-463, flying CH-53s to the last, was decommissioned on 22 April 2022 as part of the Marines’ “divest to invest” budget cuts to fund the Marine Littoral Regiments.

Junk Force at 60

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It happened some 60 years ago this month.

Official caption: “Ensign Le Quy Dang, VNN, and Lieutenant Tylor Field, USN, look for suspicious fishing boats while Lieutenant (J.G.) Phu, Commanding Officer of Junk Division 33, communicates with other units of his division during a patrol. Ensign Dang holds in his hands a powerful little equalizer, an M-79 grenade launcher. April 1965.”

At the beginning of 1965, the VNN Coastal Force consisted of 526 junks assigned to 28 Coastal Force divisions spread out along the entire coast of the Republic of Vietnam. The force included 81 command, 90 motor-sail, 121 motor-only, and 234 sail-only junks.

The command junks were the most capable vessels. Armed with one .50-caliber and two .30-caliber machine guns, these 54-foot junks could reach a maximum speed of 12 knots. At least one American adviser sailed with the Vietnamese crew.

At the end of the day, the operational effectiveness of the junks depended on the motivation and actions of the Vietnam Navy personnel, and this was a weakness the advisers were only too aware of.

April 26, 1965 Chief Gunner’s Mate Edmund B. Canby, underway in one of the command junks of Junk Division 33. He carries an M2 carbine

330-PSA-5-65 (USN 711489) Junk Force personnel load infantry troops aboard the small craft for a seaborne assault against the Viet Cong 1964. Note the M1 carbines and garands

Lookout watch crew member of a unit of Vietnamese junk force maintains vigilance over Viet Cong shipments in search of contraband, May 1962 USN 1105176

Vietnamese Junk Force stand lookout for craft which might be suspected of carrying weapons and other gear to Viet Cong collaborators, May 1962. USN 1105071

Junk force. His tattoo “Sat Cong” means “kill Viet Cong.” Photographed by SFC Bill Curry, before February 1965 USN 1109225

South Vietnamese Coastal Junk Force personnel inspect a boat they stopped in South Vietnamese waters M1 carbines duck hat and sneakers 66-3818

Junk of the South Vietnamese junk force on patrol at Vung Tau, Vietnam, March 1966 USN 1114950

Junk force man alert with Thompson as his junk prepares to move alongside suspicious fishing junk in search of Viet Cong contraband, May 1962 USN 1105074

Engineman First Class Carl L. Scott, advisor to the Vietnamese Coastal Junk Force 1964. Note the mix of pajamas, M1 Garands, and M1 Thompsons

Vietnamese Junk Force Crewmen searching a Viet Cong fishing boat in search of contraband and arms, May 1962. Note the Tommy gun. USN 1105078

Vietnamese Junk Force sailors. Note the sheilded M2 50 caliber machine gun and “evil eyes” on the trawler. Co Van My 15 Mar 1966 K-36321

Junk Force Station, Phu Quoc 1966

Lt. Taylor Field and Edmund B. Canby LIFE junk force April 1965

Hai-Thuyên Force Junk Force Vietnam, putting a WWII-era M1919 to use

Hai-Thuyên Force Junk Force Vietnam. Note the M1919s

For more information on the Junk Force and the Brown Water Navy of the Vietnam War, read War in the Shallows:  U.S. Navy Coastal and Riverine Warfare. 

Rock and Roll

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A U.S. Navy Patrol Boat, Riverine (PBR) crewman mans his twin M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun mount as the craft patrols the Vung Tau River in Vietnam on 14 April 1966, “in anticipation of trouble with the Vietcong.” Note the alternating mix of M20 red-over-silver-tipped armor-piercing incendiary tracer (API-T), silver-tipped M8 AP-I, and M1 incendiary (light-blue tipped) ammo in his belts.

Journalist First Class Ernest Filtz Photographer, NARA – K-31263

While the war of a million sorties from Yankee Station gets the most attention from Navy historians, the “Brown Water Navy” of the River Patrol Force and Mobile Riverine Force on Operation Market Time and Operation Game Warden involved the efforts of more than 30,000 Bluejackets and deserves to be remembered.

We found out why the Hotchkiss Universal did not have universal appeal

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The manufacturing firm established by American gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss in France in the 1860s saw nearly a century of success in making everything from revolving cannons (think 47mm Gatling guns) to light machine guns, automobiles, and even tanks. By the late 1940s, however, the firm was barely hanging on and developed at least four new submachine gun models with tubular receivers to court military and police sales.

The weirdest of these was the Model 010, or “Type Universal.”

To make a gun as compact as possible, almost every component of the Universal was designed to fold, collapse, or telescope. The sheet metal buttstock folds completely under the gun. To make the folded weapon as svelte as could be, both the magazine well and the hollow pistol grip pivot forward. The 10.79-inch rifled barrel slides back a few inches into the receiver through a long trunnion to further abbreviate the firearm.

 

Hotchkiss Universal
With all this done and the stock folded, the Universal is only 17.3 inches long. Compared to its contemporaries – the American M3 Grease Gun and the Soviet PPS-43, which were both 23 inches long with their stocks collapsed – the Universal saves a few inches. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Hotchkiss Universal
When the stock unfolds and the barrel is telescoped forward, the sub gun’s overall length is 30.67 inches, the same length as a STEN gun. It weighs 7.5 pounds and loads with a box magazine full of 32 rounds of 9mm. It is selective fire for single shots or a zippy 650 rounds per minute full-auto cyclic rate. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Hotchkiss Universal
However, the gun proved unpopular, and besides some local use in Indochina with French colonial forces and some limited sales overseas (to Venezuela, for example), it faded into history. 
French paratroopers M1 carbines
It seemed French airmobile and parachute troops, a demographic that would seem an ideal user of the folding Hotchkiss, preferred GI surplus .30 caliber M1A1 Carbines, which weighed about 6 pounds and would compact to 25 inches when folded but were much simpler to use. (Photos: French military archives) 

Our Hotchkiss experience at Battlefield Vegas had a learning curve. To be more to the point, it was needlessly complicated and had terrible ergonomics.

It shot OK, but, after spending some time with it, we could easily tell why the Universal did not have a universal appeal.

More, including the transformation and shooting footage, in my column at Guns.com. 

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