Coast Guard Squadron One, also known in official message traffic as COGARDRON ONE or RONONE, was a combat unit formed by the United States Coast Guard in 1965 for service during the Vietnam War. Placed under the operational control of the United States Navy, it was assigned duties in Operation Market Time. Its formation marked the first time since World War II that Coast Guard personnel were used extensively in a combat environment.
The squadron operated divisions in three separate areas during the period of 1965 to 1970. Twenty-six s with their crews and a squadron support staff were assigned to the U.S. Navy with the mission of interdicting the movement of arms and supplies from the South China Sea into South Vietnam by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese junk and trawler operators. The squadron also provided naval gunfire support to nearby friendly units operating along the South Vietnamese coastline and assisted the U.S. Navy during Operation Sealords. As the United States' direct involvement in combat operations wound down during 1969, squadron crews began training Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN) sailors in the operation and deployment of the cutters. The cutters were later turned over to the RVNN as part of the Vietnamization of the war effort. Turnover of the cutters to RVNN crews began in May 1969 and was completed by August 1970. Squadron One was disestablished with the decommissioning of the last cutter.
The squadron was awarded several unit citations for its service to the U.S. Navy and the South Vietnamese government during the six years the unit was active with over 3,000 Coast Guardsmen serving aboard cutters and on the squadron support staff. Six squadron members were killed in action during the time the unit was commissioned.
Squadron One, along with American and South Vietnamese naval units assigned to the task force that assumed the Market Time mission, were successful interdicting seaborne North Vietnamese personnel and equipment from entering South Vietnamese waters. The success of the blockade served to change the dynamics of the Vietnam War, forcing the North Vietnamese to use a more costly and time-consuming route down the Ho Chi Minh trail to supply their forces in the south.
Background As the United States military involvement in South Vietnam shifted from an advisory role to combat operations, advisors from Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) to the South Vietnamese military noticed an increase in the amount of military supplies and weapons being smuggled into the country by way of North Vietnamese junks and other small craft.Larzelere, p 6Summers, p 100 The extent of infiltration was underscored in February 1965 when a U.S. Army helicopter crew spotted a North Vietnamese trawler camouflaged to look like an island.Tulich, p 3 The event would later be known as the Vung Ro Bay Incident, named for the small bay that was the trawler's destination.Kelley, sec 5, p 541Cutler, p 76 After the U.S. Army helicopter crew called in air strikes on the trawler, it was sunk and captured after a five-day action conducted by elements of the Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN). Investigators found one million rounds of small arms ammunition, more than 1,000 stick grenades, 500 pounds of prepared TNT charges, 2,000 rounds of 82 mm mortar ammunition, 500 anti-tank grenades, 1,500 rounds of recoilless rifle ammunition, 3,600 rifles and sub-machine guns and 500 pounds of medical supplies. Labels on captured equipment and supplies and other papers found in the wreckage indicated that the shipment was from North Vietnam. Concern by top MACV advisors as to whether the RVNN was up to the task of interdicting shipments originating in North Vietnam led to a request by General William C. Westmoreland, commanding general of MACV, for U.S. Navy assistance.Karnow, pp 345–346
The request was initially filled by U.S. Navy radar picket destroyer escorts (DER) and minesweepers (MSO) in March when Operation Market Time was started, but these vessels had too great a draft to operate effectively in shallow coastal waters.Johnson, p 331 In April the U.S. Navy ordered 54 Patrol Craft Fast (PCF) (known as Swift Boats), aluminum-hulled boats with a draft of only and capable of . At the same time, the U.S. Navy queried the Treasury Department, the lead agency for the U.S. Coast Guard at the time, about the availability of suitable vessels.Cutler, p 81Larzelere, p 7 The Coast Guard had only a very minor role in combat operations during the Korean War and the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Edwin J. Roland, responded to the request by offering the use of Point-class cutters (WPB) and utility boats, fearing that, if the Coast Guard were left out of a role in Vietnam, its status as one of the nation's armed services might be jeopardized.
The decision to use the Point-class cutter was one of logistics. The Cape-class cutter was initially considered an option by Roland since it had a greater speed because of its four main drive engines. The Point-class cutter had only two main drive engines, but they were more consistent throughout the class than the Cape-class cutters, so it was easier to supply spare parts and maintain the engines.Larzelere, p 13 Additional factors favoring the Point-class cutter were an unmanned engine room with all controls and alarms on the bridge, and air-conditioned living spaces, a big factor in a tropical climate where crews were expected to live on the boat whether on or off duty.Cutler, p 82 The 40-foot utility boats were rejected because they lacked radar, berthing, and mess facilities for extended patrols offshore.
On 22 April representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy signed a memorandum of understanding stating that the Coast Guard would supply 17 Point-class cutters and their crews and the Navy would provide transport to South Vietnam and logistical support with two tank landing ships (LST) that had been converted to repair ships.Larzelere, p 8 Ten of the cutters were sourced from stations on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and seven were sourced from Pacific coast stations. After removal of the Oerlikon 20–mm cannon on the bow, in place of which each cutter was fitted with a combination mount consisting of an 81 mm mortar which could be either drop-fired or trigger-fired, above which was mounted a .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun. The mortar could be fired in both indirect and direct modes, and was equipped with a recoil cylinder.Wells II The cutters were loaded on merchant ships for shipment to U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines.Johnson, p 332 On 29 April President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized Coast Guard units to operate under Navy command in Vietnam and to provide surveillance and interdiction assistance to U.S. Navy vessels and aircraft in an effort to stop the infiltration of troops, weapons and ammunition into South Vietnam by People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong (VC) forces.Scotti, p 9
Crew training and unit commissioning While the cutters were being shipped to Subic Bay, crew members started reporting to Coast Guard Training Center Alameda, California on 17 May 1965 for overseas processing and training.Larzelere, p 18 The cutter crews received one week of small arms training at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and Camp Pendleton while Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training was received at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, near Coleville, California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Washington.Larzelere, p 19 Returning to Alameda, they underwent refresher firefighting and damage control training from the Navy at Treasure Island Naval Base. Additional weapons qualifications and live fire exercises were held at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, along with refresher training in radar navigation, radio procedures and visual signaling. Gun crews received mortar and machine gun training at Camp Pendleton. Of the 245 personnel assigned to the unit only 131 were present at the squadron commissioning ceremony held at Alameda on 27 May with the remainder of the crews in the process of completing training elsewhere. For service in Vietnam, two officers were added to the normal crew complement of eight to add seniority to the crew in the mission of interdicting vessels at sea. All officers assigned to command cutters were required to be lieutenants and to have previously commanded a Cape-class cutter and had to volunteer for the assignment. The executive officer was either a lieutenant junior grade or ensign.Larzelere, p 15
Naval Base Subic Bay
Divisions 11 and 12 The first crews arrived at Subic Bay on 11 June and a squadron office was established. On 12 June 1965, the squadron came under the operational control of the commander, Vietnam Patrol Force (CTF 71). Administrative control for personnel actions such as pay and personnel records was retained by the Coast Guard.Larzelere, p 21 The first cutters arrived at Subic Bay on 17 June and before they were put in the water each hull bottom was inspected, repaired if necessary and painted from the waterline down. Mechanical, ordnance, electrical and electronic maintenance checks were completed before any modifications for duty in Vietnam were attempted. Modifications completed at Subic Bay included new radio transceivers, fabrication of gunner's platforms and ammunition ready boxes for the mortar, the addition of floodlights for night boardings, installation of small arms lockers on the mess deck and addition of sound-powered telephone circuits. Additional bunks and refrigerators were added to increase patrol on-station time.Cutler, p 83 Modifications were made to the bow-mounted over-under machine gun mortar combination allowing it to be depressed below the horizon for close-range firing. Four additional M2 machine guns with ready boxes were added to the gunwales of each cutter.
As the crews arrived from the United States, they began doing required modification work in the shipyard and shakedown sorties in an effort to get all systems working. Night training exercises and gunnery drills were held each day and underway drills and training had been completed and commissary stores loaded by 9 July.Larzelere, p 22 A one-day survival training course was conducted by Negrito natives and completion was compulsory for all squadron personnel. When it became known that the cutters would be operating in two widely separated locations, Squadron One was divided into two divisions with Division 11 operating in the Gulf of Thailand at An Thới, Phu Quoc Island and Division 12 operating near the port of Da Nang close to the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).Kelley, sec 5, p 142 Division 11 consisted of nine cutters and Division 12 consisted of eight cutters. At 16:00 on 16 July, Division 12 got underway and once out of the harbor they formed up on , the LST permanently assigned to support the division at Da Nang. Division 11 and , the division's LST support ship, left Subic Bay bound for Phu Quoc Island at 08:00 on 24 July
Division 13