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 1961 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1961 was not to name cutters under in length, it was designated as ''WPB-82316'' when commissioned and acquired the name ''Point Mast'' 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 Mast'' 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 tank capacity was at 95% full.Scheina, p 71 Engine exhaust was ported through the transom rather than through a conventional stack and this permitted a 360 degree view from the bridge; a feature that was very useful in search and rescue work as well as a combat environment.Scotti, p 165
The design specifications for ''Point Mast'' included a steel hull for durability and an aluminum superstructure and longitudinally framed construction was used to save weight. Ease of operation with a small crew size was possible because of the non-manned main drive engine spaces. Controls and alarms 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 ...
allowed one man operation of the cutter thus eliminating a live 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 Because of design, four men could operate the cutter; however, the need for resting watchstanders brought the crew size to eight men for normal domestic 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 an eighteen knot maximum speed could get the cutter on scene quickly.Scotti, p 166 Air-conditioned interior spaces were a part of the original design for the Point class cutter. Interior access to the deckhouse was through a watertight door on the
starboard side
Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front).
Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...
aft of the
deckhouse
A cabin or berthing is an enclosed space generally on a ship or an aircraft. A cabin which protrudes above the level of a ship's deck may be referred to as a deckhouse.
Sailing ships
In sailing ships, the officers and paying passengers wo ...
. 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 down a ladder. At the bottom of the ladder was the galley, mess and recreation deck. A watertight door at the front of the mess bulkhead led to the main crew quarters which was ten feet long and included six bunks that could be stowed, three bunks on each side. Forward of the bunks was the crew's head complete with a compact sink, shower and commode.Scotti, p 166 Accommodations for a 13-man crew were installed for Vietnam service.Scheina, p 72Scotti, p 10Scotti, p 219
History
After delivery in 1961, ''Point Mast'' was assigned a homeport of
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
, where she served as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.
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.Cutler, p 84Larzelere, p 21 While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, ''Point Mast'' 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, additional floodlights, small arms lockers, bunks, additional sound-powered phone circuits, and the addition of four M2 machine guns. The original bow mounted machine gun was replaced with a combination over-under .50 caliber machine gun/81 mm 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 Mast'' was assigned to Division 11 of Squadron One to be based at
An Thoi Naval Base
An Thoi Naval Base is a former Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN), United States Navy, and U.S. Coast Guard base in the town of An Thới, Phú Quốc island in southwest Vietnam.
History
The base was originally established by the RVNN in the earl ...
on the southern tip of
Phú Quốc
Phú Quốc () is the largest island in Vietnam. Phú Quốc and nearby islands, along with the distant Thổ Chu Islands, are part of Kiên Giang Province as Phú Quốc City, the island has a total area of and a permanent population of appr ...
island along with , , , , , , and . After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for An Thoi on 17 July 1965 in the company of , their temporary support ship. After almost two weeks at sea, they arrived at their new duty station on 1 August and began patrolling the waters in the Gulf of Thailand near the
Cà Mau Peninsula
Peninsula ( vi, Bán Đảo Cà Mau, lnks=no) makes up the southern tip of Vietnam. It is in Cà Mau Province, and lies between the Gulf of Thailand to the west and the South China Sea to the east.
Cà Mau is a triangular stretch of land, with ...
.Kelley, p 5-97Larzelere, p 48 Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board. During September 1965, , a repair ship outfitted for the repair of WPB's relieved the USS ''Floyd County''. Also during this time, the WPB's were directed to paint the hulls and superstructures formula 20 deck gray to cover the stateside white paint. This increased the effectiveness of night patrols.Cutler, p 85
''Point Mast'' assisted in the recovery of a damaged and sunken
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 ...
on 14 February 1966. She towed it and the Landing Craft Mechanized holding the crane supporting the stricken boat nine miles to deeper water where the repair ship USS ''Krishna'' could recover the boat from the water.Larzelere, p 96
On 15 June 1970, ''Point Mast'' was 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 and recommissioned as RVNS ''Đằm Thoại'' (HQ-721).Scotti, p 211