Point class cutter
The Point-class cutter was a class of 82-foot patrol vessels designed to replace the United States Coast Guard's aging 83-foot wooden hull patrol boat being used at the time. The design utilized a mild steel hull and an aluminum superstructure. ...
constructed at the
Coast Guard Yard
The United States Coast Guard Yard or just Coast Guard Yard is a United States Coast Guard operated shipyard located on Curtis Bay in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just south of the Baltimore city limits. It is the largest industrial fa ...
at
Curtis Bay, Maryland
Curtis Bay is a residential / commercial / industrial neighborhood in the southern portion of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
The neighborhood is on steep sloping heights, about four city blocks wide (west to east) and fifteen blo ...
in 1962 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1962 was not to name cutters under in length, it was designated as ''WPB-82328'' when commissioned and acquired the name ''Point Gammon'' in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than .Coast Guard Historian website /ref>Scheina, p 72
Construction and design details
''Point Gammon'' was built to accommodate an 8-man crew.Scheina, p 71 She was powered by two VT600
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, controls, air ...
diesel main drive engines and had two five-bladed propellers. The main drive engines were later replaced by VT800 Cummins engines. Water tank capacity was and fuel capacity was at 95% full.Scheina, p 71 Engine exhaust was ported through the transom rather than through a conventional stack permitting a 360 degree view from the bridge a useful feature in search and rescue work.Scotti, p 165
She had a steel hull, an aluminum superstructure with a longitudinally framed construction to save weight. Controls were located on the
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
which allowed one-man operation and eliminated an engineer
watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached b ...
in the engine room.Scotti, p 165 For short periods, a crew of four men could operate the cutter, however, the need for rest brought the practical crew to eight for normal service.Scotti, p 165 The
screw
A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to f ...
s were designed for ease of replacement and could be changed without removing the cutter from the water. A clutch-in idle speed of three knots helped to conserve fuel on lengthy patrols and she had an eighteen knot maximum speed.Scotti, p 166
The deckhouse contained the cabin for the officer-in-charge and the executive petty officer.Scotti, p 166 The deckhouse also included a small arms locker,
scuttlebutt
Scuttlebutt in slang usage means rumor or gossip, deriving from the nautical term for the cask used to serve water (or, later, a water fountain).head. Access to the lower deck and engine room was via a ladder, at the bottom of which was the galley, mess and recreation deck. A watertight door at the front of the mess bulkhead led to the crew quarters which was ten feet long with six stowable bunks, three on each side. Forward of the bunks was the crew's head with sink, shower and commode, interior spaces were air-conditioned.Scotti, p 166 Accommodation for a 13-man crew were installed for Vietnam War service.Scheina, p 72Scotti, p 10Scotti, p 219
History
After delivery in 1962, ''Point Gammon'' was assigned a homeport of
Fort Bragg, California
Fort Bragg, officially the City of Fort Bragg, is a city along the Pacific Coast of California along Shoreline Highway in Mendocino County. The city is west of Willits, at an elevation of . Its population was 6,983 at the 2020 census.
Fort ...
, where she served as law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. From 1963 to 1965, she was stationed at
Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...
. On 20 April 1965, she dewatered and towed the disabled pleasure craft ''Amigo del Mar'' into Port Richmond, California.
At the request of 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 ...
, in April 1965, she was alerted for service in South Vietnam and assigned to
Coast Guard Squadron One
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 Unit ...
in support of
Operation Market Time
Operation Market Time was the United States Navy, Republic of Vietnam Navy and Royal Australian Navy operation begun in 1965 to stop the flow of troops, war material, and supplies by sea, coast, and rivers, from North Vietnam into parts of Sout ...
along with 16 other Point class cutters.Larzelere, p 13Cutler, p 84 While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, ''Point Gammon'' was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Sub ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
in May 1965 where she was refitted for combat service. Shipyard modifications included installation of new single-sideband radio equipment, floodlights, bunks, additional sound-powered phone circuits, and the addition of 4 M2 machine guns. The original bow-mounted machine gun was replaced with a combination over-under .50 caliber machine gun/81mm trigger fired mortar that had been developed by the Coast Guard for service in Vietnam.Larzelere, p 21Cutler, p 82 For service in Vietnam, two officers were added to the crew complement to add seniority to the crew in the mission of interdicting vessels at sea.Larzelere, p 15
''Point Gammon'' was assigned to Division 12 of Squadron One to be based at Da Nang, along with , , , , , and . After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Da Nang on 16 July 1965 in the company of USS '' Snohomish County (LST-1126)'', their temporary support ship. After almost two weeks at sea, they arrived at their new duty station on 20 July and began patrolling the coastal waters near Danang.Larzelere, p 33 Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board. Permanent engineering and logistic support of Division 12 was provided by a U.S. Navy non-self-propelled floating workshop, ''YR-71''. During this time, the WPB's were directed to paint the hulls and superstructures formula 20 deck gray to cover the Coast Guard's normal white paint to increase the effectiveness of night patrols.Larzelere p 54Cutler, p 85
On 1 January 1967, ''Point Gammon'' was on Market Time patrol off
An Xuyên Province
An, AN, aN, or an may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Airlinair (IATA airline code AN)
* Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy
* AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey
* Anime North, a Canadian an ...
with U.S. Navy
Patrol Craft Fast
Patrol Craft Fast (PCF), also known as Swift Boats, were all-aluminum, long, shallow-draft vessels operated by the United States Navy, initially to patrol the coastal areas and later for work in the interior waterways as part of the brown-wate ...
''PCF-68'' and ''PCF-71'' intercepted a
North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
ese steel-hulled trawler.Kelley, p 5-14 After a firefight involving both Market Time boats, ''PCF-68'' hit the trawler with a mortar round that set the trawler on fire while ''Point Gammon'' provided covering fire and illuminated the target with her mortar. The trawler exploded and sank.Bronze State Medal citation of Roger W. Hassard", USCGA Wall of Heroes, U.S. Coast Guard Academy
On 11 November 1969, ''Point Gammon'' was the first Division 12 cutter turned over to the
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 ...
as part of the
Vietnamization
Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnamese forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same t ...
of the war effort.Larzelere, p 234 She was recommissioned RVNS ''Nguyễn Đao'' (HQ-703).Scotti, p 210