Tân Mỹ Base (also known as Col Co, Tân Mỹ Docks, Tân Mỹ Naval Support Activity or Eagle Beach) is a former U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base northeast of

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

in central

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

History

The base was located on Vinh Loc Island at the mouth of the Perfume River approximately 12 km northeast of Huế.

1967–70

The U.S. Navy established Tân Mỹ Naval Support Activity in 1967, the base comprised an LST ramp, Seabee base, docks and petroleum storage facilities together with a petroleum, oil and lubricants pipeline to Huế. The base was adjacent to the Eagle Beach rest and recreation facility. The base was initially defended by elements of the

3rd Marine Division The 3rd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps based at Camp Courtney, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan. It is one of three active duty infantry divisions in the Marine Corps and together with th ...

. In February 1968 the U.S. Army's Task Force X-Ray assumed responsibility for base defense before handing control back to the 1st Marines in early March following the end of the Battle of Huế. The Navy Task Force 116, River Section 521 was based at Tân Mỹ before being moved north to Cửa Việt Base to form Task Force Clearwater. On 5 September 1968 the base was severely damaged by Typhoon Bess. A

Loran-C Loran-C is a hyperbolic radio navigation system that allows a receiver to determine its position by listening to low frequency radio signals that are transmitted by fixed land-based radio beacons. Loran-C combined two different techniques to ...

station, designation SH-3 "Z" was established at Tân Mỹ in 1969 and operated by the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

. In March 1970 Tân Mỹ Naval Support Activity ceased operations and the base facilities were handed over to the U.S. Army Support Command.

1971-4

On 23 May 1972 during the

Easter Offensive The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive ('' vi, Chiến dịch Xuân–Hè 1972'') by North Vietnam, or the red fiery summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted b ...

, the 7th Marine Battalion launched Operation Song Than 6-72, an amphibious assault from Tân Mỹ against the flanks of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) force on the Street Without Joy. On 8 September 1972 during the Second Battle of Quảng Trị,

Vietnamese Rangers The Vietnamese Rangers ( vi, Biệt Động Quân), commonly known as the ARVN Rangers, were the light infantry of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Trained and assisted by American Special Forces and Ranger advisers, the Vietnamese Rangers ...

boarded the and USS Alamo LSD-33 at Tân Mỹ to conduct a feint amphibious assault intended to draw PAVN forces away from the

Quảng Trị Quảng Trị () is a district-level town in Quảng Trị Province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. It is second of two municipalities in the province after the provincial capital Đông Hà. History The Sino-Vietnamese name Quả ...

citadel. In late 1972 Troop F, 4th Cavalry was based at Tân Mỹ before being withdrawn from Vietnam in late February 1973.

1975

On 22 March 1975 in the face of the PAVN offensive, the decision was made to abandon Huế and withdraw all South Vietnamese forces to an enclave around

Danang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is o ...

. The plan was for the 147th Marine Brigade to withdraw to the Tân Mỹ Base where they would be picked up by

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 ...

ships. The base was soon swamped with Marines, soldiers and civilians seeking evacuation, however only smaller ships were able to dock at the base and ferry evacuees to larger ships offshore. Due to the overcrowding and the threat from the closing PAVN, the Marines moved further down the coast where two attempts were made to pick them up by LST over the next 2 days, however the LST could only approach to within several hundred feet of the shore forcing the Marines to attempt to swim out to the ship, in the end only approximately 600 of the 3000 Marines were evacuated to Danang.

Current use

The base is abandoned but the airfield and docks are still clearly visible on satellite images. On the ground, the airfield bitumen runway is still intact although overgrown with weeds, and the control tower is fully intact.

References

External links

* http://www.vhpamuseum.org/4thcav/ftroop/ftroop.shtml Photos of Troop 4, 4th Cavalry at Tân Mỹ {{DEFAULTSORT:Tan My Base Military installations of the United States Marine Corps in South Vietnam Installations of the United States Army in South Vietnam Installations of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Buildings and structures in Thừa Thiên Huế province