The PBR and the Brown Water Navy - Vietnam War

An overview of the "Patrol Boat, River" (PBR).

Apocalypse Now 1979
The Grand Tour “Seamen”
Family Guy 1999

#navy #history #guns

[oceanmariner]

I did several years in Vietnam and was a boat captain on most types of riverine boats. PBRs did a lot more and went many more places than you can cover in 9 minutes. Enlisted did a year with one break for a week or 2. Officers were there to get their ticket punched and to get an "I was there" medal. They usually left between 3 and 6 months. Good officers could be around for a year or more.
Speed and return fire was the primary defense. A rifle bullet would go all the way thru unless it hit an engine. Rivers carried a lot of debris and caused excessive wear in the jets. A water jet is a housing with a propeller inside. Originally there was .001" between the prop tips and the housing. Debris caused the housing to wear and as the clearance increased, thrust was lost. Eventually the jet was replaced.
We usually ran in pairs and at night would nose into opposite banks, shut down, put out Claymores, and watch. We usually propped open the engine hatches to let the heat out. Snakes were a problem. Drawn by the heat, they'd come on board in the dark and lay on the top of the engines. Usually you never saw them until you started the engines. Then they'd come flying out. As long as you didn't step on one they were ok. Otherwise you got bit.
The engines were muffled and the exhaust went out under water. The engineroom was insulated an you couldn't hear the engines at idle. Because of the thick jungle, you couldn't hear a boat go by if you were 50 yards in the jungle. I was in a unit that worked remote areas, some places we weren't supposed to be. We would carry special forces, seals, rangers, and recon marines to patrol places where it was difficult to use choppers. We'd drop them off and then patrol, but be available if they needed support. The enemy put a lot of effort into stopping these patrols because it stopped their supply system. Sometime the ground units came back under fire and close contact by greatly superior numbers.The two boats could put down a lot of covering fire from 6 m-2s, plus 2 81mm mortars and 2 Mk 18 grenade launchers. We also carried extra M-60s so the returning troops could join in. The boats had a small refrigerator and a lot of medical supplies.

[Dysturbed-]

My dad served in these boats. A solid gentle giant with the artistic and mechanical skill of Michealangelo. His special skill was mechanics diesel and other. He survived the war and went on to type nuclear repair manuals in Glasgow while tinkering with cafe racers. After returning to civilian life, he joined the family trade as a brick mason and when I was born, he trained and worked as a mason in the day and as an aircraft mechanic in the afternoon to pay the bills. 6'4 with saintly patience he taught me everything he knew and raised me to be an honest gentle man. He passed away in 2021 to sudden illness while caring for my ailing mother and family home. I worked by his side for 15 years professionally in historic restoration repairing stonework on churches, schools and statues in our community and the void left is crushing. I've collected what technical drawings and stories I could as well as his medals and black beret. I miss him more than any words that I can say to anyone can express. Thank you to all who have served.

[freduinst]

My grandpa served as a navy officer on one of these boats, 1965-1968, he doesn’t talk about this part of Vietnam alot. He talks about being out in the ocean.

[ThatBenOliver]

I lost my father this week; he was a member of this force (PBR and USS Askari ARL-30) in Vietnam. He never spoke about it in detail because of how difficult it was for him. About a year into his deployment he was hit by shrapnel in his leg and was discharged with a Purple Heart. Thank you so much for your video and for helping me understand one facet of what made my dad such an incredible man. I will forever miss him.

[davidbronson]

My grandfather is a retired Army Lt. Col. and served in Vietnam in the artillery division. He was tasked with designing the 81MM implacement for the PBR. Cool stuff.

[bmccarty]

My boss for several years was a guy who served on a PBR during a time that included the 1968 Tet offensive. He told stories about how the PBRs and larger boats were sent into Hue to help clear out the Viet Cong following the offensive. He said Hue was a beautiful city when they started, but was completely destroyed when they were done. He also had some pretty graphic stories about casualties on the boats.

He said had a major bout with PTSD in 1979, after watching "Apocalypse Now" when it came out in the theaters. He said the PBR scenes were just so accurate, even down to the sound of rounds shredding the boat's fiberglass hull, that they brought everything back for him more than 10 years after he got out of the Navy.

One of the signature elements of the PBRs were the American flags mounted on the tops of the boats. The ends would get shredded from flapping in the wind, so they would change the flags out fairly often. When he got his orders to go home, the last thing he did was grab the flag off the back of his boat. He kept it for years, and eventually had it framed and hung in his office. This was in the early 90s, when he started to really embrace his history with the boats after reading the Book "Riverine: A Brown-Water Sailor in the Delta, 1967."

[jacobrico]

If anyone gets the chance to check them out, there's a veteran owned company in Muskegon, Michigan that has a PBR Mk2 called Operation: Black Sheep. Their boat (PBR 7331) is refurbished and rebuilt from the hull up and they offer rides! There's a few out there that were rebuilt and seaworthy like PBR 7331.

[MM]

8:30 Kudos to getting a rare clip of a Mk18 crank-grenade launcher, forerunner of the Mk19 MGL

[ryqarst]

My uncle was on one of these boats in Nam.

He was originally a gunner but his glasses fell overboard one day, so they made him the driver for the rest of his deployment. The guy that took over the gunner spot was killed at some point and it weighed pretty heavy on him for a lot of years.

He never talked about it much when I was a kid. Later in my 20s I got him to open up more, he showed me some wild pictures he took. Flamethrower boats next to small villages lobbing napalm in. RPG hits his boat and others took to the side causing massive dents/damage. Some other action shots of them lighting up entire river banks with multiple boats.

[dennyhughes]

I was a LCPR engineer and machine gunner on a 36 foot patrol boat (Yankee One ). We carried UDT-11 and SEAL TEAM 1, we did beach surveys and recons on many rivers in the RAT SUNG SPECIAL ZONE. I did 4 combat tours with these teams, and worked many times with PBR's. I miss it every day.
Dl Hughes USN 1964-68

[infinitlycool]

EDIT: Wow! Over a hundred likes! I don't get that very often. Thank you for all of your comments. As a bonus I'll share a couple more stories about my Dad down below.



I have an interesting story to tell.

My Dad served in the Navy during Vietnam. He initially began his tour serving as both quartermaster and helmsman aboard the USS Canberra CAG-2, originally a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser(CA-70) built during WW2 and then converted into a Boston-class missile cruiser during the 50s by having it's aft gun turret removed and replaced with a missile launcher.

Later on he joined the Brown Water Navy. However, he didn't pilot the PBR or any of the other boats featured here. I've never been able to find what boat he piloted exactly and I'm only going by memory based on the stories he told so try to bear with me here.

The boat was a converted torpedo retriever he had piloted during the time he was stationed in Seattle when the Navy was testing torpedoes up there. Based on what I can remember I believe they were around the same size as the PT Boats the Navy had used during WW2 and were similarly armed, with a pair of 50 Cals on both fore and aft and a 20mm in the middle. They were also given more powerful diesel engines that, according to my Dad, drank fuel faster than you could drink a whole bottle of water.

When my Dad was serving on the Canberra he was told that the Navy was looking for anyone who knew how to pilot these torpedo retrievers they converted(I think there were two squads of six). My Dad was one of the few could and he was given command of one squad. Unlike the rest of the Brown Water Navy, their mission was very different. Instead of patrolling the many rivers of Vietnam their job was to hunt down and destroy pirates operating out of Cambodia, and their orders were very simple. "No prisoner, no mercy".

From what he told me, it was a pretty ugly business. His group would mainly use one of two tactics. The first was coming up alongside the pirate vessel and emptying the 50 Cals by razing the entire deck. Then they would use the 20mm pick off anyone who managed to survive before boarding. The other, more common, tactic they used was running their boats straight through the pirate vessel at full speed, splitting them in half. They always had air support nearby in case they encountered something they couldn't handle, usually in the form of the Skyraider. My dad loved the Skyraider and always said that it was his guardian angel.

In the beginning they were very effective, but as time went on the pirates began to get smart and began to lose their boats one by one. One had run aground and had to be destroyed to prevent the enemy from using it. Another one, in a more horrifying event, completely disintegrated after going through a pirate vessel that had been loaded to the brim with TNT. My Dad said he could still hear the crew screaming as they burned to death. In the end, only his boat survived.

His service soon ended after that and he returned home. Unfortunately, like a lot of Vietnam veterans, he was badly mistreated. Personally, I don't think he ever recovered from that. He never had any nightmares or PTSD like many other veterans did, but he had difficulty getting along or even trusting other people, even veterans like himself. He always kept to himself, avoided large crowds and even cities, and never really had any close friends to speak of. He was still a good man though. He got married and had seven kids, me being the youngest and coming along unexpectedly twelve years later.

All and all, my dad was proud to have served his country and he was very sensitive about the criticism surrounding the Vietnam War. He passed away on January 29, 2019.



BONUS STORIES!

During the time he served on the Canberra, my Dad had a once in a lifetime chance encounter. One day they were steaming along when the captain suddenly ordered my Dad to steer to these coordinates, stating that they were to intercept a ship without specifying who, what, or why. When they got there, however, there was nothing but the ocean. The captain then ordered all-stop and General Quarters was sounded, except the crew was ordered to remain below deck without any explanation. All the doors and hatches were sealed with Marines armed with M-16s stationed at every access point to prevent anyone from peeking. Only the bridge crew were allowed to remain on deck but they had to stay at their stations. They weren't allowed to go outside.

A few minutes later a giant submarine emerged from the surface. The ship they were ordered to intercept was actually one of the Navy's nuclear ballistic submarines. If you know anything about ballistic subs they operate in SECRET. They NEVER surface. They ALWAYS remained submerged UNLESS it was for an emergency. As it turned out, one of the sub's crew had a serious medical condition that couldn't be treated and he needed to be transported over to a hospital ship as quickly as possible. The Canberra was the closest ship available so they were ordered to intercept the sub. As soon as it surfaced a group of Marines went out in a raft and retrieved the submariner. As soon as they headed back the sub immediately submerged.

My dad and the entire bridge crew saw it all but of course were ordered to forget the whole thing and pretend that it never happened. But they would never forget, for how often do you get a chance to see a nuclear ballistic submarine in person? My Dad claimed that he actually snuck out and took a picture but I seriously doubt it. He claimed to have lost the picture but it was mostly that his camera got confiscated and he was simply too embarrassed to admit it. He never found out the sub's name or what class it was. He believes it was a George Washington class but given how he described it as being so huge I think it was more likely a Lafayette, James Madison, or maybe even a Benjamin Franklin class since the George Washingtons are pretty small compared to them. It was, as I said before, a once in a lifetime chance encounter.

Vietnam was also the time during the Civil Right movement. In another story centered on my Dad's life as a pirate hunter, the Brown Water Navy often received "Packages", which was basically an African-American who got in trouble with the Navy over something. For this story I'll just refer to him as Mr. Package. This story is both serious and funny at the same time.

The one my Dad received was a giant and an asshole, but he also was the bravest man he ever knew. He also had a giant afro that he refused to shave off, which is probably what got him in trouble. When he arrived he simply marched up to the pier, threw his gear down, and said, "I'm the Package!" and my Dad simply, "Welcome aboard.". He wasn't about to pick a fight with this man and they got along decently enough.

One day they were out patrolling and they came across a Vietnamese fishing boat that had caught on fire. Most of the fishermen had already jumped overboard, but there were two young children still aboard that had become too terrified to move. As soon as Dad brought his boat alongside Mr Package jumped onboard, ran through the flames, grabbed the children, and jumped back on. Both him and the kids were fine but his afro had caught on fire and he ended up losing most of his hair. He forever blamed Dad for it, lol.

In another, more interesting story, Dad and his crew were woken in the middle of the night and were ordered to bring a group of people ashore from a recently anchored ship. Dad and his crew went, no doubt grumbling over having their precious sleep disturbed, only to find out that the group was actually a bunch of attractive Navy nurses. I'll leave you to your imagination on what happened next, although I doubt it lasted long.

That's all for now! If I think of any more stories I'll be sure to share them. Thanks again for all the likes!

[orangelion]

A former co-worker who became a close friend served as a MM on one of the the "mother" LSTs servicing PBRs. Though he didnt directly see combat, he was reminded daily how tough it was for their crews.

[nursestoyland]

finally, some coverage of the PBRs and the Brown Water Navy!

[bigblue]

Mention is often made of the Ho Chi Minh Trail to get supplies into South Viet Nam but the vast majority of those supplies came by sea and through the rivers.

Something else often missed is the fact that in many of the raids carried out by US Special Forces in the Delta region the craft were manned by the US Coast Guard as the special forces prefered working with them.

[haramsaddam]

There was a deacon at the church I went to growing up that was in the BWN/PBR. He was also a certified gunsmith and did work for my family at a large discount. Very chill dude, never told tall tales.

Godspeed wherever you are Gary

[patriotprepper]

My father was on one of the PBR (Alpha Boat) he talked about it one time to me and told me of a ambush where they were setup by a boy. He told me the whole story after I was shot at by two men while I worked unarmed security. I told him it bothered me that had I been armed I would have taken their life and would have done so in a fraction of a second without even a single thought. He told me I was simply defending my life as he had done in Vietnam during that ambush and that like I was not looking for a fight just as he was not but those who ambushed him and the men who shot at me were looking for a fight and like him I would have simply defended my life. He said it is a hard thing to take a life and it changes you forever, people say what they will do but they do not know unless they have been in that situation. He told me with tears in his eyes I wish you didn't have to know what you would do because it is a hard thing to know of ones self and hard to live with. He was right it changed me forever knowing that is inside of me even though I was unarmed had I been armed that day would have ended very badly for those two men. I would not wish it on anyone to know what they would do.

[SpicyLunarRegolith]

My dad spent 4 tours on PBR’s & tango boats with the 113th Mobile Riverine Task Force, to keep his brother out of Vietnam. The stories, pictures and audio tapes he has is truly astounding. He never left. Just adapted..

[retirednavy]

The USN still has this weapons platform. I was assigned to Riverine Squadron One and we operated on the Euphrates River in Iraq. And we were still rocking and rolling over the bad guys.

[oldmech]

I was flying about 7000 feet above the Mekong River, into Cambodia when I spotted a cargo ship being attacked from shore. I remember the tracers and a few RPGs. Nothing we could do. There was no air cover where we were going. It was surreal.

[kyledunn]

""PBR Street Gang, this is Almighty. Radio check over."
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