During WWII, the Viet Minh built fortified tunnels on a small island off the coast of Viet Nam. They used it to shell Japanese ships. The VC used it to shell navy ships cutting donut holes in the ocean on North SAR and PIRAZ station. It was an annoyance, rather like a mosquito buzzing around. But, American airmen needed the advanced warning provided by the PIRAZ destroyer and the SAR assets at North SAR.
Not all missions north were successful, if the had been, the ordinance we dropped on NVN would have bombed them back to the stone age. When weather or some other mission cancelling event stopped an aircraft from dropping its load on target, they’d bring it back with them. That meant bombing Flipper or the island.
Tons of ordinance would be unloaded on the island.
To no avail.
Then one day, the VC fired on the New Jersey. Suffice it to say, that put an end to that island as a source of annoyance to the navy.
Another argument for the value of a capital ship that carries a big stick.
And tough luck for Flipper.
2 comments:
We called it "Tiger Island". Scuttlebutt had it Mr. Charles had stationary 10" guns that could reach out a ways.
I never believed the rumors. On a clear day at sea we could see the island just before entering the mouth of the river at Dong Ha.
Later in '67 we got an even better view of it when we had to cross over the line well north of the river to beach at a small fishing village to evac a platoon of 3rd Recon Marines and a bunch of civilians. Two boats were "volunteered" for that duty while the USS Chicago and F-4 jet jockeys covered us. We even got to fire our 20mm mounts to cover the evac.
Oh it was so much fun. I never could figure out why they would use a big ass slow moving target like an LCU to do this other than the fact an empty well deck could hold alot of people.
I saw it once while at PIRAZ station. We heard they'd be firing at us but nada - did they shoot at you guys?
Gotta love the USN, 200 years of tradition, zero years of progress.
Remember, airdales ran the VN war. LCUs were a just toys to them, not serious fighting weapons...
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