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New on board
Posts: 3
| Subject: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
Looking for information for a friend who was a seal during the Viet Nam war. He rode a few boats but can not remember there names. All he can remember is they had a number beginning with 3.
Any help would be nice.
Thanks
JKill
Base Commander USSVi Egg Harbor Twp.Base NJ |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 597
Location: Tucson, Arizona | Subject: RE: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
I do not think that information is at yet totally unclassified so not sure how many will let you know it was them. Many of those operations were extremely classified.
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
There were three boats whose operations in Nam were essentially 100% SEAL oriented that I'm aware of. There were some others that had one or more lockout and recovery operations while attached to SUBFLOT SEVEN, including some 3XX and 4XX hull numbers I can recall. As already stated, however, I don't know either whether they have been declassified officially.
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2191
Location: Port Ludlow, WA (the Olympic Penninsula) | Subject: RE: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
Edited by crystal 2008-06-07 7:05 AM
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2191
Location: Port Ludlow, WA (the Olympic Penninsula) | Subject: RE: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
USS Perch SS-313 Three boats operated with SEAL teams (note the caps - use 'em) in the past prior to our new (4) SSGN's taking the load now... The USS Sea Lion LPSS-315 on the east coast (think Bay of Pigs and other Spanish speaking area hot spots). The USS Grayback SS-574 and Perch SS-313 on the west coast (think Viet Nam). The boat names that operated with SEAL teams are not classified although some of their past operations still are and in fact will be for quite awhile. (would someone please save this answer since we seem to get the question at least once a month)
Edited by crystal 2008-06-07 7:06 AM
 (SEAL.JPG)
Attachments
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 SEAL.JPG (72KB - 805 downloads)
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: RE: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
About 25 or so years ago my wife did after school baby sitting for kids as we live across the street from a school, One of the families the dad was a retired Marine and he had been in a Marine Raider Group on the east coast during the late 1950s and early 1960s. When he found out I was a sub vet he started telling me a lot of his experiences as his Raider group rode the Sea Lion a lot during the Bay of Pigs and The Cuban Crises of 1962. I wish I had listened better as he told some real hair raising stories.
He and another retired Marine were an armored car team for Brinks or one of the others. One afternoon as he delivered a cash delivery to a local store some punk pulled a 357 cal pistol on him and demanded his cash bag. Being the retired Marine he was he did not give it up and attcked unfortunately the gun went off and he died. A true Marine to the end, he did not fold but attacked.
As I got older and started thinking about the past more I sure wish I had listened to him more. He told some great 'no shi--ers' and did mention being ashore on Cuban on a few occasions but my forgetful mind does him the justice of keeping things classified.
"Hand Salute Marine" you did your duty to the end.
T.Spoon, DBF |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 781
Location: Port Orchard WA | Subject: RE: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
There were more than one 6XX as well that did Special thing in Vietnam waters with interesting people but as was the norm for SSN 5XX and 6XX they were and are still listed as training. And many will never (in my opinion be able to tell the whole story) at least one SSN-6XX even was given a hostile fire ribbon for a training mission Johns post is right though in those three boats were known throughout the community to carry Special Forces (SEALs, Marines etc.)
Edited by Bear 2008-06-09 12:22 PM
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Crew
Posts: 57
| Subject: USS Grayback
A Maui native and former Navy SEAL tomorrow will receive a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with valor for a top secret POW rescue mission that went awry nearly 36 years ago off the coast of North Vietnam and remained untold for nearly that long.
Retired Lt. Philip L. "Moki" Martin, 65, will receive the recognition at the Naval Special Warfare Command headquarters in Coronado, Calif.
The 1960 Maui High School graduate was seriously injured while riding a bicycle in 1982, and was medically discharged from active service. According to his biography, Martin lives in Coronado with his wife, Cindy.
The June 1972 U.S. Pacific Command mission, beset by miscalculations and setbacks, led to two separate overnights floating in the Gulf of Tonkin for Martin, the death of a SEAL on the second night, and injury to two others.
The extreme challenges faced by special operations forces then, as now, point to the inherent danger of their profession.
Navy SEAL units around the world stood down for a safety review last week following the deaths of two Virginia-based SEALs during recent parachute training in Arizona.
Hawai'i has its own Sea, Air, Land commandos, SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One based at Pearl City Peninsula.
What's clear is the bravery of the men involved in such units.
On June 5, 1972, Martin was nearly knocked unconscious jumping into the sea from a pitching helicopter at night in 15- to 20-knot winds to rendezvous with a waiting submarine.
At one point, the chopper dipped so low that water splashed into the cabin, nearly swamping the aircraft.
According to an account of the rescue mission in the U.S. Naval Institute publication Proceedings, Martin later estimated he was 50 to 60 feet from the water when he went out the helicopter door — too high to safely make the jump. The chopper also was reported to have been flying too fast.
Lt. Melvin "Spence" Dry, the officer in charge of Alpha Platoon, SEAL Team One, was killed on impact. Another team member suffered a broken rib and was semi-conscious.
Martin's commendation citation says that "despite losing consciousness, he located the survivors and kept them alive through another eight-hour night."
The then-chief warrant officer's "courageous actions, bold leadership and loyal devotion to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service," the citation says.
Dry was the last SEAL killed during the Vietnam War.
According to Proceedings, Dry's parents — his father, Melvin H. Dry, had been a Navy captain — were told their son's death came in a "training mission," the government's cover story for the secret mission.
The article said that with the exception of an "end-of-tour" Navy commendation medal awarded to one lieutenant, no member of Dry's team was decorated or otherwise recognized for their actions.
After the Proceedings article detailed the secret mission in 2005, though, the skipper of the submarine Martin and the others were trying to rendezvous with collected Naval messages and submitted awards for Martin and Dry.
The Navy authorized the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for Martin and a posthumous Bronze Star with valor for Dry on Oct. 26, 2007.
The original mission was code-named Operation Thunderhead, and its goal was to assist American POWs who planned to escape from the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison, steal a boat and flee via the Red River to the Gulf of Tonkin.
On June 3, 1972, Martin, an experienced combat veteran with several tours in Vietnam, launched from the submarine USS Grayback with three others in a SEAL Delivery Vehicle to reconnoiter an island near the mouth of the Red River.
The Navy said the operation was the first combat use of a mini wet-submersible.
Due to strong currents, though, the SEAL Delivery Vehicle ran out of battery power. The team decided to swim and tow the vehicle out to sea and away from the North Vietnam coast, where it was eventually scuttled.
After spending seven hours in the water, the mission personnel were picked up by helicopter and flown to the cruiser USS Long Beach.
Dry made an impassioned argument to return to the submarine Grayback to try the mission again, the Navy said, and on the night of June 5, a helicopter set off with the men in search of the sub's infrared flashing beacon.
It was dark and windy, visibility was limited, and at one point, the helicopter strayed over the "surf line" and into North Vietnam.
"I remember seeing (Dry's) face in the dim red helo light," the Proceedings article quoted Martin as saying. "His last words to me were, 'We've got to get back to Grayback.' "
"I was third in the drop," Martin added. "I exited and counted — one thousand, two thousand, three thousand ... followed by 'God dammit' — and then I hit the water." He knew at that point the altitude had been too high.
The flashing lights they had seen were emergency flares and strobes used by a second SEAL Delivery Vehicle that had launched from the submarine and foundered. The men were rescued at dawn.
In 2001, the Naval Special Warfare Command honored Martin by dedicating the new Advanced SEAL Delivery System maintenance building at Pearl City Peninsula to him.
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2540
Location: Wappingers Falls, NY | Subject: RE: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
Per your request, John...it's copied, saved, CD'ed...
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Old Salt
Posts: 256
| Subject: RE: Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
Crystal:
Right about the CAPS for SEALs.......so many folks don't use them or are ignorant of the fact that they should be ALL
capital letters.....Excellent posts here......we'll never hear about all the SEAL missions in Vietnam, or a lot of other places since.....
Tincanman |
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Boats that operated with seals during VietNam
