Gannet trip to Can Tho in the summer of
1967.
Early July 1967 the YRMB 16 was moved to the Bassac River at Can Tho.
They immediately set up shop as good sailors do. There was a water
purification plant and the crucial item a "Bar" at the end of the gang
plank. They had a Seal Team group from the East Coast and a PBR group
51 as I recall.
Our job was to evaluate the feasibity of using our sonar to detect
swimmers. We entered the Mekong River and proceeded up the river. We picked up a Seal Team to serve as our land forces if
anything went wrong. We traversed a canal west to the CUU LONG River to
within a few miles of Cambodia and eventually the Bassac River.
Following the river downstream to our destination Can Tho. 180 miles inland VIETNAM we
tied up aft of the YRMB and discovered there was a tremendous amount of
flotsam, dead plants and live plants. We had our job cut out for us.
The seal team disembarked. We lowered our sonar which was in up
position while transiting the shallow rivers. After sitting up shop
and calibrating the equipment all that was needed was swimmers. The VC
refused to supply those and need dictated that we offer our own people
an opportunity. That's right a chance to swim. The catch was you were
taken up river several hundred yards and then had a leisurely swim past
the boat and then be picked up and repeat. Volunteers were found from
the good duty bound crew and swim call commenced.
Things went well at first. Then we started drawing sniper fire from the
far side of the river. Someone was trying to kill us. The twin 20mm
proved no help and the armament on the YRMB was not able to solve the
problem. So greater minds decided that we would need a bigger club to
kill the snake. Puff was called in and I am told it was a sight to
behold....nothing but toothpicks along the bank on the far side of the
river. No more shots fired at our people and we went about our business
peacefully....well almost.
The Seal Team had a boat with an aircraft seat epoxied in and two
outboards with armour wrapped around them. There was a dog that they
kept drunk. The aircraft that used the runway behind us had Navy Spads
(AD1s ??) they would drop expended ammos/missile pods in the river.
Then get ammo, bombs, fuel, lube oil all in the same spot. Often the
pilots would urinate off the end of the wing never shutting the engine off and go again. I believe
these were two of the famous SANDIES.
Werner Rolz our intrepid mate from Germany had wandered into a not so
friendly village and we had to recover him. Lloyd Carey always had an
eye for boats. Donald Tew and he decided that a boat they had their eye
on should change ownership. All of this was after they had consumed copious amounts
of green beer purloined from LST delivery. Ownership of the boat was
fully realized when the guard locked and loaded his weapon. They wisely
abandoned the boat. We all had our flood lights aimed on
the river. When daylight came there were millions of black beetles all
over everything, we had to wash them off with a fire hose. When we got
back to Japan we still had beetles in everything.
The time we spent at Can Tho was so long that we were eating green
canned food from our war reserve locker. We did not have authorization
to resupply. When we finally departed we were provided a river pilot.
My battle station was the forward engine room and I did not see this
personally....so when the river pilot ran us aground the skipper threw
him off the boat.... so the story goes. Into a waiting boat or into the river? This is the same skipper that
shot sea snakes and anything else in the water with his M1. When the
tide freed us we exited the river system and broadcast a 911 for
resupply. The USS MARS on the way to Japan turned around and
provisioned Gannet from their own stores. We had ice cream melting on the deck and
running over the side. So much food we could not store it.
We traveled 180 miles inland. We accomplished our assignment. The USS GANNET MSC-290 had accomplished
what no other coastal minesweeper had done and done it well. I do not
know the outcome of the tests. I cannot help but think had we been
moored aft of the YRMB 16 in November 1967 that the loss of life they
suffered may not have happened.
We are not listed in the brownwater navy ships site but we were there and we did the job. We have a right to be proud.
Land map
Satellite
CUU LONG River where we turned into downstream flow of the Bassac
