Southeast Asia became Navy responsibility. I even told him that I was WebShips docked to Vietnam shore or pier The VA Says: This category includes large ocean-going ships of the Blue Water Navy that entered an open water harbor and docked to a pier or otherwise docked to the shore of Vietnam. Though cost and skill comparisons tend to equate the contractor and military engineer capabilities, it is to be remembered that the primary purposes in maintaining engineer troops are to possess flexibility, to be able to provide rapid initial support to contingency operations and to have the ability to work in a zone of intensive hostilities. Also assembled as material kits in a pool status in Da Nang and Port Hueneme were Seabee Tactical Support Functional Components (TSFC) available to support Navy and Marine tactical requirements. It was responsible for administering contract construction, including design, in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Naval Support Activities Da Nang Vietnam & E. the Army essentially turned over the entire responsibility for repair and utilities to the contractor. And few people were quite sure how it had happened. This was in line with the standard policy which called for transferring a man to shore duty after he had served in Vietnam under the above conditions. 88-113. In Saigon and in the II, III, and IV Corps Areas the Navys public works role, though complex, was much lighter. Also significant were a few large U. S. contractors who did not belong to the RMK-BRJ combine. Practically all of the public works activity in the early months was internal to NSA itself and was theoretically limited to the "secure" areas; but as the troop buildup continued, the demand for an expanded public works organization became more pressing. airforce fighter and an unidentified ARVN helicopter collided in a gigantic The Navys answer to this problem was to import CBMU-302, a slightly smaller (200 and later 300 men) version of the CBMU which went to I Corps about the same time. When the Marine Expeditionary Brigade was ordered to land at Da Nang in March 1965, there was no naval activity ashore to support it and no indication in official files that the Navy would move to establish such an activity. WebUser Review - Flag as inappropriate It shows some of what life there was like, it does not, can not show the blood, sweat, and tears that went into each day. Another area of interest has been a comparison of skills between the civilians on the contractors rolls and the Seabees. They built for everyoneMarines, Navy, Air Force, Army, Free World Forces, the Vietnamese Armed Forces; but they worked primarily for the Marines. North Central region, attracting a part of Laos and Northeast Thailand. Press BACK to return to this page). received a call from the Navy Pacific Command, to enter our harbor at daybreak Located in Quang Ngai province, Dung Quat port is Vietnam's national general seaport. [3], Nng has been a port city for many centuries, long before the first arrival of European traders in the 16th century. United States combat troops were now committed to the mainland of Asia. During the dry season the sand and laterite dust caused problems, and there was more of the same from the soupy laterite during the wet season. On the other hand, CBMU-301 at times provided a number of supervisors and skilled hands for some of the main public works shops in Da Nang. 86-111. So, NSA Da Nang came into being in mid-1965 as an activity desperately needed by the Marines, which they were not organized to provide for themselves and which no other service seemed ready to provide. Even more significant were the combined cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts for repair and utility functions at Army facilities negotiated between the Army and Pacific Architects and Engineers, Inc. One of the dead was Marvin G. Shields (CMA-3), who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry in carrying a critically wounded man to safety and in destroying a Viet Cong machine gun emplacement at the cost of his life. The latter, with 46 officers and 1,049 men per battalion, provided more general engineering support of a deliberate nature for the landing force (division and wing). Similarly, repair and utility support at the numerous small and scattered naval activities in these Corps areas left much to be desired. "Without the Seabees we could not do it! Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, United States military bases of the Vietnam War, http://www.worldcat.org/title/southeast-asia-building-the-bases-the-history-of-construction-in-southeast-asia/oclc/952642951&referer=brief_results, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/by-sea-air-land-marolda/chapter-4-winding-down-the-war-1968-1973.html, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Throughout this period a pool of augmentation equipment was steadily building up under the control of 3rd NCB, a pool, which early in 1969 totalled 1,000 pieces of specialized construction equipment not contained in the standard battalion allowance, valued at some $28,000,000. A major portion of that engineering war was waged by the U. S. Navy. Fortunately for the U. S., the threat of what the enemy could do was not matched by what he actually did, the contractor was thus able to mobilize and build with a minimum of harassment in the early days. Using excellent film footage shot in-country by navy cameramen, this video documents naval activities at and around the port of Da Nang during the Vietnam War. Korean, I kept saying to him to speak English, and that we were in the process Of course, Vietnam was not entirely new to Navy men. daylight shift and arrived at the port to find a newly assigned cargo operations In company with the Marines were Seabees of Amphibious Construction Battalion One, deployed from Yokosuka, Japan. ". Port Authority Vietnam National Shipping Lines. Digital Proceedings content made possible by a gift from CAPT Roger Ekman, USN (Ret.). small chest drawer. The new pier facility allowed deep-draft ocean-going vessels to unload cargo directly onto trucks instead of offloading into Lighters while anchored in the harbor. With the projected assignment of a second CEC Flag Officer to Vietnam, the OICC shed his brigade responsibilities and the Regimental Commander in Da Nang, Captain A. R. Marschall, took command of the brigade as well, briefly during the summer of 1967. Clearance Diving Team 3 8th Contingent Includes excellent aerial views of the entire area, the hospital, Marine airgroup, 16 area, Camp Tien Sha, Naval Support Activity Da Nang Hdqtrs. In one way or another every career CEC officer will have some duty with Seabees, and most officers tend to consider Seabee duty among the most rewarding they have experienced. One could expect to receive per battalion 19,000 man days of productive labor a month. If paucity of numbers produced a complaint during World War II when the Seabees reached a strength exceeding a quarter of a million, surely one can sympathize with involved operational commanders on the eye of the Vietnam adventure when Seabee (Group VIII) strength world-wide totaled only 8,500 men. WebThe Giant Elephant at Deep Water Pier. Da Nang Port: more tourists, more worries, "Seabourn Odyssey Cruise Ship brings 352 visitors to Nng", The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, "Da Nang Port facilities: Yards and Warehouses", "In Vietnam cruise ships dock at cargo ports", "Da Nang Port facilities: Navigation Channel", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Da_Nang_Port&oldid=1131352128, Articles containing Vietnamese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 3 January 2023, at 19:40. Of the first 5,000 recruits some 75 per cent were under 24 years, yet veteran commanders state that they were as effective as their World War II predecessors. These Seabees were broken up into various details, sent to different bases, primarily in support of Game Warden and Market Time operations in the II, III, and IV Corps areas, and assigned the usual public works responsibilities, which included construction and alteration and even extended to small boat repair. Da Nang was the keystone, the major, deep water port and the major air base. In June 1965 the Chief of Civil Engineers in a letter to Chief of Naval Operations noted that the current planning for NSA did not contain Public Works components. The French overpowered the Vietnamese stationed in Nng, swiftly occupying the city and Tin Sa Peninsula (now called Sn Tr Peninsula). port the helm; ported sharply to avoid a shoal. Create stunning websites with this awesome clean and modern template, ts and innovative designs concepts. Well as you may Naval forces left Vietnam. it was moved, but for the life of me I do not remember to where. What we saw was a White Da Nang Port Every year, the number of cargo handled through the Port is about 0.6 million tons, the number of vessels docked an average of 150 ships / year. Where were the engineers to come from now? and Sao Mai-Ben Dinh serving the petrochemical industry and passenger transport. Obviously there were many uncompleted projects when it came time for a battalion to leave for home, and there was some lost motion as the relieving battalion took over. Untitled . Built by the French in 1874, Hai Phong port is now the most modern container port in the North of Vietnam. This international mixed military and civilian force, organized along Public Works Center lines, had grown with roughly equal proportions of Seabees, Vietnamese, and Koreans. In the course of their duties the Seabee construction forces were involved in just about every kind of job imaginable. Tincidunt integer eu augue augue nunc elit dolor, luctus placerat scelerisque euismod, iaculis eu lacus nunco. A 3rd NCB report of 1 December 1967 stated matter-of-factly: "Progress to date: Approximately 29 bridges have been constructed utilizing timber construction primarily. In the meantime, other Seabees in small units, orignally known as Seabee Technical Assistance Teams (STATS), later shortened to "Seabee Teams," became a part of the Vietnamese scene, commencing in January 1963 when the first two organized teams, 0501 and 0502, under Lieutenant (j.g.) Use our real-time freight calculator to compare rates, See your cargo location on the map in real-time, Find sailing schedules by route or vessel with multiple shipping lines, A tool for carriers to provide accurate tracking, Visual module with map, showing sea and land routings, Port Authority Vietnam National Shipping Lines, Coordinates 16 7' 34'' N, 108 14' 19'' E, Oil Terminal 21 - 25 feet 6.4 - 7.6 meters. I actually thought it had all been forgotten. WebDanang had become the largest fuel complex in South Vietnam capable of holding over 500,000 barrels. Later he earned bachelors and masters degrees in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and, as a Rhodes Scholar, a doctorate from Oxford University. In like manner, whole battalions were pulled off jobs to go to Vietnam; in some places civilian contracting firms took over for them and in others the jobs just died. protection. Short EM3 Camp Tien Sha Fire Department To turn (a craft) or make a shift to the port side: To hold or carry (a weapon) diagonally across the body, with the muzzle or blade near the left shoulder. Untitled . Early in 1969 their numbers approximated 2,500 Seabees (of whom less than 500 were in the CBMU), 2,500 South Koreans, and 2,000 Vietnamese, led by fewer than 100 officers. In a meeting with 18 presidents of the AFL-CIO Building Trades, Navy officials made known their needs, and this word went out immediately to all the locals in the United States. The Captain was last off and he told the NSC officer that he NAVSUPPACT DaNang the story that will never be told: this Few military units saw more duty in Vietnam than the Seabees. During the early allied buildup in South Vietnam the only primary deep water port to handle incoming cargo ships was the Saigon Port on the Saigon River in the Capital Military District of Gia Dinh Province in III Corps Tactical Zone. WEBMASTER'S NOTE Get the most cost-effective rates for shipping your cargo, Preparing Your Business for an Upcoming GRI: What Shippers Need to Know About the General Rate Increase in 2023, Supply Chain Tracking Solutions: How They Can Optimize Your Business Processes. his first star after leaving RVN and was assigned to Germany. They were all assigned to I Corps distributed in mid-1968 as follows: Five battalions in Da Nang, two in Chu Lai, two in Phu Bai, one in Camp Evans north of Hue, one in Quang Tri, and one in Dong Ha. Personnel in public works and the CBMU were shifted as circumstances dictated. Naturally, all Seabee materials were not in the stored components. The port handled 320,000 tons of cargo WebDa Nang, Vietnam Characteristics Design Suspension bridge Material Concrete Total length 1,850 metres (6,070 ft) Width 18 metres (59 ft) Height 80 metres (260 ft) Longest span 405 metres (1,329 ft) Piers in water 2 History Construction start 2003 Opened 19 Future programming must be on the broadest possible basis and must be more responsive to the operational commanders needs. [When I was in Da Nang just before Rich Phosphorus missile, fortunately unarmed, which had fallen of the wing of the F4 At the start of the Vietnam conflict the authorized allowance of a battalion was 21 officers and 563 men. A place on a waterway with facilities for loading and unloading ships. Administratively, the Pacific battalions still reported individually to ComCBPac and the Atlantic battalions to ComCBLant with the result that the brigade and regimental staffs could concentrate entirely on the operational business of getting on with the construction. the radio to talk to the LST Captain, who was Korean, but he was talking only in For the most part, they tended to concentrate on work of a temporary or emergency nature at scattered Air Force sites. Those in the Pacific Fleet, home ported at Port Hueneme, California, and deployed at various times in unit or sub-unit strength to Guam, Okinawa, Midway, Adak, and Sangley Point, were five in number, each of 525 men. Following the confusion of the explosion, while we The concept of public works operating only in a "secure" municipality was to break down completely in 1967. WebThe Delong pier was no longer located at Deep Water Pier in Danang upon my arrival in country and assignment to the 5th Transportation Command. with which to work and it caused many problems for us during the stand down of