The Strike Assault Boat (STAB) (also known as the SEAL Team Assault Boat), was a fast and heavily armed riverine assault boat developed by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for use in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

in 1970.

History

The STAB was a highly modified version of the

Light SEAL Support Craft The Light SEAL Support Craft (LSSC), was a fast riverine assault boat developed by the United States Navy for use by the United States Navy SEALs in the Vietnam War in 1968. History In July 1968 the LSSC began replacing the Patrol Boat, River as ...

. In August 1969 Admiral

Elmo Zumwalt Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. (November 29, 1920 – January 2, 2000) was a United States Navy officer and the youngest person to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations, Zumwalt played a m ...

ordered the establishment of Strike Assault Boat Squadron Twenty (STABRON 20) to serve as a fast reaction force and it was formed at

Mare Island Naval Shipyard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates th ...

. The first shipment of 14 STABs arrived at their operational base, the near An Long on 27 February 1970. Those boats began operating as TE 194.4.5.1 in the western

Operation Barrier Reef Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

area on 12 March. Two additional STABs arrived into

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

on 9 March and were transported to the base on USS ''Benewah''. The last four STABs were scheduled to arrive on 20 March. STABRON 20 was assigned to Operation Barrier Reef on the Grand Canal (also known as the La Grange-Ong Long or La Grandière canal), part of

Operation Sealords Operation Sealords was a military operation that took place during the Vietnam War. SEALORDS acronym SEALORDS is an acronym for Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, and Delta Strategy. It was a joint operation between United States and South Vi ...

. On 2 April 1970 at 00:10 a STAB was in a waterborne guard post position near the north bank of the Grand Canal at WS 947 765 () when its crew heard movement on the opposite bank and called in air support. The STAB was then hit by two B-40 rockets killing three crewmembers and wounding a fourth. The STAB pulled away with one engine operational and the surviving crewmen returned fire. An inspection of the STAB found that one B-40 penetrated near the waterline and exploded next to a fuel bladder which self-sealed, while an apparent recoilless rifle hit severed the control cables rendering one engine inoperable. On 9 May 1970 10 STABS joined the combined U.S. Navy and

Republic of Vietnam Navy The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; ; ''HQVNCH'') was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats fro ...

flotilla that crossed into

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

as part of the Cambodian Campaign. U.S. Navy forces patrolled the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...

as far as

Neak Luong Neak Loeung (also romanized as ''Nak Loeung'', km, អ្នកលឿង) is a busy commercial town in Prey Veng Province, Cambodia. Located on the Mekong and astride National Highway number 1, it is the commune centre for Neak Leung commune an ...

before being withdrawn. On 7 November 1970 STABRON 20 was redeployed from South Vietnam.

References

{{reflist Riverine warfare Vietnam War ships Military boats Patrol vessels of the United States Navy Patrol boat classes