Tag Archives: nasty boat

Nasty making it back

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Official caption: “MACV/SOG Naval Advisory Detachment: Two Nasty-class PTF’s returning at dawn from a sea commando mission into the DMZ area in 1971. This was a particularly successful mission, with no friendly casualties.”

From the Frederick J. Vogel Collection (COLL/5577) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division

With the hundreds of wooden PT boats all liquidated shortly after WWII ended, the Navy in the 1960s found themselves in need of a handful of small, fast, and heavily armed craft for “unorthodox operations” in Southeast Asia.

These wooden-hulled Norwegian-designed 80-foot boats, powered by a pair of Napier Deltic turbocharged diesel engines, could make 38-knots but, with a 40mm Bofors single, an M2 .50 cal/81mm combo, and 20mm cannons, they could deal some hurt.

Crew members man a 40mm Bofors gun on a PTF Jan. 5, 1973. Photo by Fred Maroon. NARA DN-ST-88-07400

Gunnery exercises aboard PTF

Some 20 were acquired in the early 60s (numbered PTF-2 to PTF-23), six lost in combat, and, laid up at Subic after 1973, retired by 1981.

PTF Nasty boats laid up at Subic Bay

More on the Nasties here

That’s one heck of a small arms locker

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Was reading up on 80-foot Nasty Boats (PTFs) used by the Navy during Vietnam and found the following tid bit from the most excellent N6CC.com site which covers military radios, MIUWUs, and a good bit of brown water Navy antics of the 1960s:

We carried approximately 20 M-16 Rifles, four .45 cal pistols, two .38 cal pistols, two M-60 machine guns, two M-79 grenade launchers, two M-870 12 gauge shotguns, a 40 mm Very pistol, a .45/70 line-throwing gun plus the .50 cal M2, two 20 mm cannons, the 40 mm cannon and the 81 mm mortar. Without a doubt, the most heavily armed vessel of its size anywhere.

Keep in mind these craft were slightly smaller than the Point-class Coast Guard cutters used in Market Time that we have covered here earlier.

Here are some shots from N6CC:

The M-16 was brand new at the time...note the AAA ring for the 40mm in the foreground (All photos via N6CC.com)

The M-16 was brand new at the time…note the AAA ring for the 40mm in the foreground (All photos via N6CC.com)

Nothing says Vietnam better than a waist level M60

Nothing says Vietnam better than a waist-level M60

Nice! The perfect accessory for your M2 .50 cal is always an 81mm mortar

Nice! The perfect accessory for your M2 .50 cal is always an 81mm mortar

That beautiful Bofors...keep in mind the Navy largely scrapped these from the fleet by the 1950s, but the PTFs were still putting them to good use in Southeast Asia long after that

That beautiful Bofors…keep in mind the Navy largely scrapped these from the fleet by the 1950s, but the PTFs were still putting them to good use in Southeast Asia long after that

More here