River Patrol Vietnam

DATE: 10/04/2025

TIME (GMT): 18:00

ERA: Vietnam

MAP(S): Khe Sanh

TYPE: COOP

TEAMSPEAK: ts1.biaarma.com

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Aris for Brothers in Arms Community

SLOTS: 65 / 72

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RATING: (9)

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On March 21, 1966, just six months after the U.S. Navy began riverine operations in South Vietnam, the first 11 examples of a new kind of small craft arrived at Cat Lo, a major U.S. naval combat and logistics base on the northern shore of Cape Vung Tau.

The craft was designated patrol boat, river, or PBR, a high-speed, shallow-draft,diesel-powered freshwater patrol craft with a fiberglass hull and water jet propulsion. The PBR was the first jet-propelled watercraft used in combat, and it became an integral element of the Brown Water Navy.

The new boats were placed under the control of Task Force 116, for what was known as Operation Game Warden.

Game Warden forces were charged with disrupting Viet Cong infiltration and resupply operations, destroying VC insurgents in their areas of operation and enforcing South Vietnamese government curfews.

Game Warden units performed harassment and interdiction operations, river patrols and minesweeping operations, especially along the main Saigon shipping channels. They were authorized to board and search all river craft—except foreign-flagged steel-hull merchant ships, warships and military, police or customs craft, unless specifically authorized by the task force commander.

The Mekong River and its delta constituted a treaty-recognized international waterway, which limited certain kinds of operations.

The 11 PBRs delivered in March 1966 and the approximately 300 delivered over the next few years to the U.S. and South Vietnamese military were based on a pleasure boat design constructed by Uniflite, a boatyard in Bellingham, Washington, on the northern end of Puget Sound near the Canadian border.

Powered by twin 318-cubic-inch Detroit Allison 6v-53 diesel engines, the vessel moved at 25 to 32 knots, an extremely high speed for a naval boat at the time. At idle, the engines made a warm, low thrum-thrum sound.

The 9.5-ton vessels had a range of 150 nautical miles at 25 knots.

Instead of propellers, the boat Given its purpose as a fast and light patrol boat, the PBR had a completely unarmored hull, though lack of protection was rarely a problem s engines drove pumps built by the Jacuzzi Corporation, which later gained fame in the spa and health club market. Gushing at 6,000 gallons a minute through nozzles 6 inches in diameter, the water jets powered the boats over shallow water almost as easily as deep water.

Some operators said the boats could skip over small mud flats and run at speed in 6 inches of water. Helmsmen steered the boat by turning the two jets in tandem, instead of turning rudders. This meant incredible maneuverability.

The PBR could perform a 180-degree turn in a boat length.Given its purpose as a fast and light patrol boat, the PBR had a completely unarmored hull, though lack of protection was rarely a problem

The PBR was armed with twin .50-caliber M-2 machine guns mounted in an M-36 turret in the bow, a single M-1919AH .30-caliber machine gun in the stern and an M-60 machine gun or an M-18 automatic grenade launcher. Four enlisted sailors manned the vessel: a boat captain, an engine man, a gunner s mate and a seaman. The crew carried M-16 rifles and .45-caliber sidearms. Crewmen also operated a Raytheon 1900 radar unit and two URC-46 radios.

A fifth person, such as a South Vietnamese police officer or customs officer, sometimes accompanied the boats on patrols.The Navy experienced problems with the Mark I PBRs within a few months of deployment.

Crews noticed premature aging, corrosion and deterioration of the fiberglass hull. Cracks allowed water to invade the Styrofoam hull reinforcement. The cracks apparently were caused by repeated hoisting and lowering into the water, and heavy weather. The Jacuzzi pumps also aged quickly in the harsh conditions.On a quiet night, PBRs running at high speed could be heard more than three miles away. In 1967 the Mark II version of the PBR appeared, with an aluminum gunwale to protect its sides when junks and sampans came alongside. A transom lengthened the boat by about 6 inches.

PBR tactics were tailored to the vessel s strengths and weaknesses. Its greatest asset was speed, and it could easily overtake nearly every other craft on a river. Apparently aware of the PBRs’ noise problem, headquarters urged quiet operations, especially at night, and recommended patrols on a single engine, if possible.

Once a PBR made contact with a suspect craft, it approached it at an angle that allowed crews to bring most of their weapons to bear. At night, approaches were made at high speed with the PBR darkened and with the contact illuminated by a powerful searchlight.

At its height in October 1968, Task Force 116 (PBR Boats) had a total of 2,032 personnel, 250 PBRs, 7 MSBs, and 31 other assorted craft lead by Underwater Demolition Teams and SEALs.The Navy established a training facility specifically for river patrol personnel in Coronado, California called the Amphibious Training Center. However, the training soon moved to the Naval Inshore Operations Training Center on Mare Island after the Navy recognized the similarities between the sloughs of the Sacramento River and those of the Mekong River Delta.

The purpose of our Mission is to ascend the River to the Marine Forward Base, searching every suspicious boat or village along the way, and at the same time, to neutralize every enemy contact on both sides of the River.During our Mission and at intervals, Combat Helicopters will accompany us.