Underwater divers were brought in the next day to begin Short EM3 Camp Tien Sha Fire Department I was told Long after the Marines had landed, there was an unwillingness among the Navy top brass to admit that Navy responsibilities extended beyond the beachhead. According to the plan of the Ministry of Transport, Quan Ninh port holds the second position in the important group of seaports in Northern Vietnam, after Hai Phong is the central position. It was a wonderful moment that we will both remember for the rest of our lives, and we owe it to VetFriends. The Navy cannot think only in terms of deep draft ships, the carriers and submarines, but also must deal with concepts such as support ashore for the Marines and riverine warfare. the country later, I caught just a few quick camera pictures of the harbor at I believe I remember a picture that hung in the old office on A cab backs up into position and hooks up to the flatbed. The remaining 115 were U. S. civil servants, Vietnamese, and civilians from other countries. Apart from sand, rock, and gravel which were available in Vietnam, most of their materials such as lumber, pipe, and fittings came from the U. S., largely by ship but some by air. Flatbed trailers being unloaded from a U.S. Navy ship at a pier in Da Nang, Vietnam during the Vietnam War. with a tonnage of 30,000 DWT and 50,000 DWT. The total surface area is 500,000sqm including 5 ports (Passenger ship, Nha Rong Khanh Hoi, Tan Thuan, Tan Thuan 2 and Phu My Steel Port) with 3,000m piers, 30 buoy wharves and 280,000m2 warehouse. WebThere were three deep-draft ship piers for ocean-going ships, while LSTs used the Tien Sha, Bridge, Museum, and Ferry cargo facilities. Did you proudly serve in DANANG VIET NAM, DEEP WATER PIERS? Phone 84 511 821 114. One month later, on 17 July, a Secretary of the Navy Notice established NSA Da Nang. Consisting of a junior Civil Engineer Corps officer-in-charge, a hospital corpsman, and eleven men in the ratings of construction equipment operator and mechanic, builder, steelworker, construction electrician, utilities man, and engineering aid, these teams were normally given some months of intensive language and technical unit training at one of the three Naval Construction Battalion CentersPort Hueneme, California, Davisville, Rhode Island, or Gulfport, Mississippi (starting in 1968), prior to being sent on a mission. Coordinates 16 7' 34'' N, 108 14' 19'' E. Decimal 16.1263874, 108.2386362. Web14 JULY - - AT 2330H, U.S. Army Sentries in a tower in the vicinity of the deep water piers of Da Nang Harbor reported sighting three swimmers on the North side of Pier #1. Although the Marines had small organic maintenance and utility units, or could call upon Marine combat engineers on occasion, their need for a municipal public works organization in the form of that provided by the Navy became more readily apparent the longer they stayed in Vietnam. Every year, the number of cargo handled through the Port is about 0.6 million tons, the number of vessels docked an average of 150 ships / year. Obsolescence of this kind was more of a nuisance than a major problem, however, and upgrading of equipment was a continuous process the longer a facility remained in existence. Captain Merdinger was Public Works Officer at Naval Support Activity, Da Nang in 1967-68, and currently commands the Western Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command at San Francisco, California. Some came from the ranks of the inactive reserve, but most of them were recent college graduates. [2] The camp was quickly expanded to include 25 new barracks able to accommodate an additional 1700 men, together with a barber shop, post exchange and milk plant. my first 6 months in country and a LTC Hickey took over Command until we Fortunately he had also become a member and responded to my email. In June 1968 one-half of all Seabee battalion personnel were located north of the Hai Van Pass (just north of Da Nang), whereas a year previously only one-fifth of them had been so located. Additionally, design personnel, Americans, Filipinos, and Nationalist Chinese, were provided through a contract with Metcalf and Eddy. Regardless of their unit, be it construction battalion, amphibious battalion, public works, maintenance unit, or some other, they were, as Seabees, not only trained as construction men but, in addition, were given infantry training by the Marines. Prior to Vietnam, first-term reenlistments in the Seabees were about the same as in the rest of the Navy. of the attack. Suffice it to say that Pentagon rivalries, lack of understanding in some quarters as to the requirements and importance of the engineer effort, and reluctance to relinquish decision-making which was better made in the field (an attitude which also prevailed at Pearl Harbor initially) only served to complicate this overwhelming task. A particular bridge near the Hai Van Pass was destroyed six times. Like the Peace Corps, the Seabee Teams put something into the country: They develop human resources. Southeast Asia became Navy responsibility. Da Nang was the keystone, the major, deep water port and the major air base. Much of the early public works effort was directed toward leasing living and working facilities for NSA in the city of Da Nang (est. To get the required experience level in uniform in a hurry, the Navy instituted in the spring of 1966 a Direct Procurement of Petty Officers program. Naval forces left Vietnam. WebIn mid-October 1968 the Deep Water Pier complex ( 16.12N 108.214E) on the Tien Sha peninsula was completed, beginning operations in September 1968. It was, in addition, the city engineers office, a contracting agent, the bus company, the taxi company, a trucking corporation, the local garage, the power and light company, the telephone company, the plumbing, heating, and air conditioning contractor, the roofing contractor, the real estate agent, and a host of other service organizations all rolled into one. A memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1956(and later refined in 1963) assigned contract construction responsibilities to the Army Corps of Engineers in certain parts of the world and to the Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks (BuDocks) in others. And it soon became clear in the early months of the conflict that every able Seabee, sooner or later, would take his turn in Vietnam. We learned of their value again in Vietnam, but it should be emphasized in many casesin the hospitals, for instancethe hardware from World War II stocks had not been updated.3. terribly to one side during this same offensive. The military Services justified their requirements for major new facilities such as runways or barracks dually through their service command chain and through the combined staff chain, starting with MACV-DC, to the Department of Defense and thence to Congress. reluctantly told me that the Korean stevedores were in a hurry to remove six In pre-Vietnam days some of the Seabees considered this something of an extra drill which interfered with their prime interest in construction work. For a number of years recruits had been funneled through the Seabee schools at Port Hueneme, and with time in the field became skilled journeymen. Public Works Da Nang had not reached its required strength to support the Marines when it was directed by MACV to give repair and utilities support to all Army units in areas now served by public works, this service to commence 1 January 1968. With the rapid buildup, there were not enough experienced petty officers on active duty to go around and the voluntary recall of reservists yielded little more. (White Elephant) and much more. Further, they were able on many occasions to engage in civic action projects similar in nature to those of the teams sponsored by USAID. "Expanded" meant, at first, giving design, real estate, some transportation, minor construction and alteration, and maintenance and utility support to Marine facilities in the "secure" areas in Da Nang, Chu Lai, and Hue-Phu Bai. 9. [1][13][14] Sng Hn Terminal contains 3,314m2 (35,670sqft) of warehouse space and 16,330m2 (175,800sqft) of yard space. They were an outstanding group of young men, and without them the Seabee effort in Vietnam would have been severely curtailed. come into the berth where the Sealand vessel was being piloted to. In one of their largest concerted efforts of the war, six Seabee battalions worked on the upgrading of Routes #1 (from south of Hue-Phu Bai through Quang Tri and Dong Ha to the DMZ) and #9 (from Dong Ha west through Khe Sanh to the border)an effort which contained 133 bridges (30 per cent ranging in length from 50 to 2,100 feet) in 138 miles of roadnearly one bridge per mile! The degree to which we can improve on the men is another matter. G. Meade in Maryland to enable me to be close to home. Supply Corps officers and rates attached to the battalions working with the Seabee oriented Construction Battalion Center supply departments played a major role in accomplishing this support through various routes of the Navy supply system. In the spring of 1966 three new regiments were formed, one at each Construction Battalion Center. During the early allied buildup in South Vietnam the only primary deep water port to handle incoming cargo ships was the Saigon Port on the Saigon River in the Capital Military District of Gia Dinh Province in III Corps Tactical Zone. The port area has 21 wharves with a total length of 3,567m with a design depth from -7.5m to -9.4m. The average annual cost to the sponsor was $88,000 per team for materials, transportation, and so on, plus $200,000 to the Navy for initial outfitting, training, and personnel costs. waves of the tug boat caused the barge to rock and one tanks block broke loose Upon activation of NSA in July 1965, however, a fledgling Public Works Department was formed under a CEC lieutenant (H. L. Higgins), soon replaced by a commander (A. E. Floyd), then a captain (R. D. Pinker ton). When the Marines next landed, at Chu Lai, some 50 miles south of Da Nang, during the period 7-10 May 1965, elements of ACB-i, under Lieutenant Commander R. T. Field, went ashore with the third assault wave. The availability of spare parts tends to be a perennial problem, but the Seabee forces after a period of shakedown did not find it an insurmountable one. Thus, after two years of experimentation and growth, the Seabee Command in Vietnam had developed into a 9,000 man, 12 battalion force of two regiments under one brigade. Flatbed trailers are unloaded from U.S. Navy ship Comet at a deep water pier in Da Nang, Vietnam during the Vietnam War. (However, it should be noted that all Seabees assigned to duty in Vietnam did not come under the command of 3rd Naval Construction Brigade. Port Authority Vietnam National Shipping Lines. Insofar as construction equipment is concerned, there are varying opinions as to whether Vietnam put a tougher strain on equipment than might be expected elsewhere. fireball almost directly over the port. One year tours and rotation of individuals, not units as in the case of the NMCBs, was the case for both PW and CBMU officers and men. The construction effort generated was impressive by any standard. He didn't want to tell me what had just happened. days, but I remember That as we loaded the tanks they were already turning General William C. Westmoreland, while still commanding in Vietnam in 1968, stated that the Viet Cong got their rockets too late, that with Soviet weapons they could have neutralized Saigon in 1966. In one way or another every career CEC officer will have some duty with Seabees, and most officers tend to consider Seabee duty among the most rewarding they have experienced. WebMy Son Holyland , Hoi An Ancient City Tour With Night Market , Sampan Boat Ride. the radio to inform me that an LST which had been at anchor, was attempting to and had come through the roof of the Captains cabin and embedded itself into his [3], Tin Sa Seaport has a navigation depth of 11m (36ft), and is able to receive medium range tankers of up to 45,000 DWT, as well as container ships of up to 2,000 TEUs and large cruise ships of up to 75,000 GRT. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. In the last position, Da Nang port is also in the group of general ports, the focal point of the whole country. Despite the second report being assessed as a definite sighting, no trace of enemy sappers were found. A changing tactical situation precluded programming individual line items many months in advance of the availability of funds. Nng Port lies at one end of the EastWest Economic Corridor, an economic corridor connecting Vietnam with Laos, Thailand, and Burma. large warehouse building. 86-111. They even became involved in building stable platforms which the Army could fire their 155-mm guns into the again DMZ. [1] Despite the fact that the port's infrastructure is not specifically designed to accommodate cruise ships, the number of large cruise ships docking at Nng Port has increased in recent years. officially turned over the port in June 1972. Many times they had to do a job over again. The city is served by Chu Lai International Airport. At this writing the end of the war in Vietnam is not in sight, yet sufficient time has elapsed to look back and consider some aspects of the part played in this conflict by the Civil Engineer Corps, the Seabees and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. In company with the Marines were Seabees of Amphibious Construction Battalion One, deployed from Yokosuka, Japan. In February 1966 the Directorate of Construction, U. S. Military Assistance Command Republic of Vietnam (MACV-DC) was established. Certainly the top deep water sailors of the Navy had no intention of committing large numbers of Navy men ashore in a place like Vietnam. Moreover, personnel programs developed to complement the unit rotational concept, enabled the Navy to reduce total Seabee manpower requirements by about 2,000 men. The encounter between North Vietnamese and U. S. warships in August 1964, soon to be known as the Tonkin Gulf Incident, touched off a series of actions which culminated in the landing of U. S. Marines in Da Nang in March 1965. As construction agent for the Department of Defense in Vietnam, the OICC was concerned with a large design effort, both in house and by contract, and he let numerous lump sum contracts to smaller construction contractors (largely Vietnamese or Korean) for the U. S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and State Department. The most significant action occurred on June 9-11, 1965, at Dong Xoai, 55 miles northeast of Saigon, where 2,000 Viet Cong troops overran a Special Forces camp containing 400 South Vietnamese and allied Asian troops, 11 Green Berets, and nine Seabees of Seabee Team 1104. The idea of one-service support in an area was pushed by top command and began to make some headway. The one hundred and fifty battalions of World War II had dwindled to two shortly thereafter, were rebuilt to eleven during the Korean War, and returned to ten from that point until the Vietnam build-up in 1965. arrival in country and assignment to the 5th Transportation Command. Experience ultimately showed that the life cycle of a piece of equipment committed to Vietnam averaged 45 months from the time it was received from the factory in a U. S. depot until it passed out of the system. Practically all of the public works activity in the early months was internal to NSA itself and was theoretically limited to the "secure" areas; but as the troop buildup continued, the demand for an expanded public works organization became more pressing. The cycle of eight months in country followed by six months back in the U. S. for leave, training, and regrouping cut to a minimum the number of individuals leaving the battalion during its deployment in Vietnam. The formation of MACV-DC did not alter the basic design, construction, and financial responsibilities of the OICC office which still reported back through its own chain to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. the only trouble with your Seabees is that I don't have enough of them.". In the initial months the Marines occupied three major enclaves at Da Nang, Chu Lai, and Hue-Phu Bai, with a primary objective of driving the main force Viet Cong units back into the hills and linking the enclaves. WebThe Deep-Water Piers were turned over to the U.S. Army on July 30th, and the U.S. Navy no longer provided logistical support in I Corps. and Sao Mai-Ben Dinh serving the petrochemical industry and passenger transport. In general it may be stated that the contractor took the larger, more complicated jobs in relatively secure areas while the troops concentrated on lighter jobs in the more forward areas. While the top of the structure in Hawaii remained essentially the same, more coordinating groups at the other end soon came into being. The Captain was last off and he told the NSC officer that he (6) It is important that officers of the line and the other staff corps develop an appreciation for the base development problem and that Naval planning staffs in general pay more attention to it. While they were primarily builders, these Seabees were in some instances directly involved in battle. [3]:33, In mid-October 1968 the Deep Water Pier complex (160712N 1081250E / 16.12N 108.214E / 16.12; 108.214) on the Tien Sha peninsula was completed, beginning operations in September 1968. The teams were designed to be small, mobile, and cross-skilled. This has been a general comment, not only concerning Seabee duty, but also about all duty connected with the Vietnam efforts, and most career CEC officers have served in Vietnam. The Deep C industrial zone near the port has already attracted 80 companies. Captain Merdinger is the author of a book, Civil Engineering Through the Ages, and has contributed articles on education, construction, administration, and history to many periodicals and has been invited to contribute an article on viaducts to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Later he earned bachelors and masters degrees in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and, as a Rhodes Scholar, a doctorate from Oxford University. LECs Representative in Indonesia This process only took a very few It is interesting to note the comparative age of the World War II Seabees who averaged 35 years of age, whereas their successors during the Vietnam conflict averaged 23 years. Contingency plans must have realistic construction annexes with real substance to them. Since the Navy was assigned support responsibilities for MAAGs in this area, one major outgrowth of this demand was the formation in 1962 of the Navys sprawling Headquarters Support Activity, Saigon, which served a large area of South Vietnam. Located in Quang Ngai province, Dung Quat port is Vietnam's national general seaport. the bay from Deep Water Pier. Deep Water Piers Danang Vietnam . WebDescription Elevated view of the deep water piers of Danang as seen from the Monkey Mountains. Many of the crews were a mixture of all three nationalities, the aim being ultimately to train the Vietnamese to take over from the more skilled Koreans and Seabees. In a meeting with 18 presidents of the AFL-CIO Building Trades, Navy officials made known their needs, and this word went out immediately to all the locals in the United States. SeaRates.com helps to arrange the international cargo delivery from 1m or 50 kg till shiploads. Terminal Yes Smallest of the military contingents were those of the Air Force, Civil Engineering Squadrons (Heavy Repair), which operated at selected Air Force sites. Though the two modes of construction were difficult to compare, the best evidence seemed to indicate that from the governments standpoint the ultimate costs were about the same. While the Navys responsibilities in this area were still being debated in Washington, however, efforts were made, primarily in ComServPac, to lay down some general rules for the operation of NSA, should it become a reality. This peak number was short-lived, however, for it looked as though military construction troops would take over and finish the job. There was also a large WebIn digging open water wells, it was found that the sand was 15 to 20 feet deep over the rock formations with no plastic clays in evidence. Like the rest of the CEC they were scattered throughout the Navygenerally in shop management positions. ways instead of lengthwise. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Deepwater+pier, [Middle English, from Old English, from Latin, The left-hand side of a ship or aircraft facing forward. U.S. With the change in the nature of the conflict came a shift in the placement of the battalions and in the type of construction to which they were assigned. This was contrary to the general policy among the armed forces in Vietnam wherein individuals and not units were rotated. Monitoring the RMK-BRJ contract was a major part of the OICCs responsibilities. While P.A. Like the majority of regulars, they did not all have degrees in civil engineering; they entered the Corps with a wide variety of scientific, architectural, and engineering degrees as well. (either M48 or M60) tanks during their shift (Korean stevedores were paid by the The challenge of building the first master jet air station in the Navy, at Miramar, California, was his task during the years 1954-56. Once the war ended, the chemical residue remained, seeping into Da Nang's water supply. going to assign a tug boat to pull him off of the berth. Most expats live outside of Where were the engineers to come from now? Because of the truce agreement, these Seabees were not allowed ashore at Haiphong, their original destination, but they did some work at Tourane and, after removing all American military identification from their clothing and equipment, they disembarked at Cap St. Jacques and provided significant assistance in the construction of a 15,000 man refugee camp. First of these was the 30th Naval Construction Regiment, formed in Da Nang under Captain H. F. Liberty in early May 1965 to provide operational control over all Seabee battalions in Vietnam. Thank you so much again for helping me ton off loaded) but they had loaded the on the barge beside the BD Crane side This was the first appreciable number of Seabees in one unit committed to Vietnam on a continuing basis. Nng Port (Vietnamese: Cng Nng) is a major port system located in Central Vietnam at the mouth of the Han River on the East Viet Nam Sea, in the city of Nng. Statistics have, of course, changed rapidly, but some idea of the contribution of the teams may be gained from these figures gathered at Seabee headquarters in Hawaii (ComCBPac) in mid-1968: "Pioneered or upgraded to all-weather standards over three hundred and fifty miles of provincial roads and highways; planned and built four 'New Life Hamlets; planned and laid out six Refugee Villages; built three provincial and four local district market places; built sixteen Special Forces Camps; constructed thirty hospitals and dispensaries; added sixty school houses to the Vietnamese educational system; placed over 286,000 cubic yards of fill; provided on-the-job training to more than five thousand Vietnamese refugees, villagers, public works personnel, and "Chieu Hoi returnees (ex-Viet Cong) (more than half of these in 1967 alone); built over 4,000 feet of bridges (12 to 400 feet in length) and laid over two hundred culverts; constructed over eight miles of airfields; added 865 one-family housing units to various refugee villages; placed over fifty fresh water wells; and, constructed 168 civic and public buildings for the Vietnamese Government." The [7] New piers were under construction at Da Nang in 1966. with which to work and it caused many problems for us during the stand down of We were stationed in Germany in 1975 through 1978. Sng Hn Terminal can accommodate vessels of up to 5,000 DWT. During peacetime deployments in the Pacific areas the battalions had feported directly to Commander Naval Construction Battalions, U. S. Pacific Fleet, (ComCBPac) in Hawaii, and he in turn, reported to Commander Service Force, U. S. Pacific Fleet (ComServPac), also located in Hawaii. The near facility at in the picture may be part of the Deep Water Pier. When it comes to specific action contributions, the Seabees are second to none.. Certainly, round-the-clock operations accelerated the breakdown of equipment, particularly where time out for adequate maintenance was hard to come by. Here it should be noted that the Seabee battalions rotated as complete units. All the resources of the Commandits officers, civil servants, enlisted men, research facilities, design agencies, contracting officeswere pressed into service to meet this new demand Industry was mobilized, construction and maintenance troops were organized, and vast logistics bases were created under the guidance, assistance, and advice of the Civil Engineer Corps.

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