Artifact Spotlight: SWIFT BOATS IN VIETNAM

At the height of the U.S. Navy's involvement in the Vietnam War, the riverine force, or "Brown Water Navy" as it came to be known, included more than 30,000 Sailors and over 350 patrol vessels.
Among these vessels was the Patrol Craft Fast, a class of civilian water taxis that the Navy obtained to patrol the coastal areas and later for work in the interior waterways. Outfitted with armor and heavy firepower, these boats would be better known by their nicknames: Swift Boats.
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[@markbell335]

I was on the Swifts from August 1968 to August 1969. I was an RD2 out of Da Nang and Chu Lai.... this was the best duty I ever had in my Naval Career. Mark Bell PCF-69

[@trevillyan5515]

Thank you for your service brother. Welcome home.

[@WOMPITUS]

Thank you sir. My father arrived in Da Nang in 1970 on the Alfred H. Cunningham. He and I never talked much about his time there. He did tell me that he spent time on a SWIFT boat and some time on an LCM.

[@WOMPITUS]

I have so many questions I’d like to ask him but he passed on in 2017. Maybe you can answer a few for me. I looked up the history of the Cunningham and it showed that it was off the coast of Da Nang for only a few months in 1970, but when I was young my dad told me he was in Vietnam for almost a year. Could he have been pulled from a his ship and severed on a SWIFT boat while the Cunningham left Vietnam? Would he have returned to the states later on a different ship or does that not add up? Any info or opinion would be appreciated sir.

[@jamesorendorff2731]

Spent a one year tour 1969 to 1970 at Camrahn bay repairing dozens of Swifty's ...and turning many over to the VN Navy... Great boats ,wish i had one now 👍

[@WOMPITUS]

My father was raised in the rivers and bayou’s of Louisiana. He joined the Navy is 1969 hoping to avoid a bunch of combat, as his father was a WWII Navy combat vet and knew full well what war really looked like. His efforts to stay out of harms way were rather fruitless as he was assigned to a SWIFT boat in Vietnam in 1970. I’m sure he saw his fair share of terrible things. After the war he worked on a boat with a gun for the next 30 years as a Louisiana state game warden. Checking hunters and fisherman’s boats like san pans. I am proud to be his son.

[@terryvandermolen9330]

A great way to see the Nam, I was on the 15 boat in Chu- Lai in 67-68

[@jamesHadden-l6l]

Great video on a very little know part of what happened in Vietnam Wish there was a vid on an even lesser known The Navy advisors in the junk force

[@scottgorman7166]

Notice on the twin Ma Duce the gunner is using a helmet for the belt feed. Reminds me of the Huey gunners using the tin cans on the M60 for the belt feed. Boy are we inventive when we have to be.....big thanks to all our service people!

[@johnaconservativevet361]

PCF-1 never went to VietNam. It stayed in Coronado as a training platform for Swifties going to VietNam. It eventually ended up at Harbor Patrol Unit of US Naval Station Rodman Panama. In 1987 when the SBU-26 was stood up HPU was decommissioned and the Swifts went to USNAVSCIATTS (US NAVY SMALL CRAFT INSTRUCTION AND TECHNICAL TRAINING SCHOOL). Proud to have rode her during Operation Just Cause, the 1989 Invasion of Panama. So VERY proud to be one of the last US Navy “Swifties”. John Juarez Swiftboat 1 Panama 1988-1992 and 1996-1998.

[@WilliamWyckoff-of2ku]

The PCF was a really good boat I supplied alot of 81s to the boats on my duty day in Vietnam

[@dtrain1634]

Answered my questions thank you 🙏

[@MasterMuppster]

too much overbearing music. What about PBRs?

[@michaelfarris5156]

My dad was in the 1st Squadron 65-66, and already had 20 years in the Navy when they asked him to Volunteer his navigational skills... lol...

[@myyoutube887]

clearing the clutter before Germany and the wars

[@Canoe571]

cut the racket behind your narrative!!!