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The Published Swiftboat
Over the past 35+ years there has been a very limited amount of history actually written down and published about the experiences, people, boats and bases that were Operation Market Time and the Brown Water Navy of the US Navy in Vietnam.
This page is a way of exposing the general public to that which has been compiled by both those directly involved and by outside sources about the events and the people of Commander Task Force 115 (CTF 115) and US Navy presence in Vietnam from December 1965 through December 1970.
With the help of the approximately 3,200 men who served on swiftboats, I hope to be able to present to you as many books, magazines and newspaper articles as possible so that what the "SWIFTEES" accomplished can be made known to a larger section of the general populace.
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NOTE: The information presented
in the links below is downloadable only in Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf).
If do not have the current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader (7.0), you can get a totally
FREE download by clicking on the Adobe logo below!
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Books
- STOP and SEARCH - A Novel of Small Boat Warfare off
Vietnam
Author : W.E.
Butterworth
Publisher: Little,
Brown and Company
ISBN:
Library of
Congress Number: 69-10648
- BROWN WATER, BLACK BERETS - Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam
Author: Thomas J.
Cutler, LCDR, USN
Publisher:
Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 0-87021-011-4
Library of
Congress
Number: Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
- RIVERINE - A Pictorial History of the Brown Water War in
Vietnam
Author: Jim Mesko
Publisher:
Squadron/Signal Publications
ISBN: 0-89747-163-6
Library of
Congress Number:
- THE VIETNAM BROWN WATER NAVY - Riverine and Coastal Warfare 1965-69
Author: Gordon L.
Rottman
Publisher: Concord
Publications Company
ISBN: 962-361-617-1
Library of
Congress Number: Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
- VIETNAM - THE NAVAL STORY --- Fighting Where the
Ground Was a Little Damp: The War on the Coast and in the Rivers
Author:
Frank Uhlig Jr
Publisher: Naval
Institute Press
ISBN: 0-87021-014-9
Library of
Congress Number: Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
- U.S.
SMALL COMBATANTS - An Illustrated Design History
Author: Norman
Friedman
Publisher: Naval
Institute Press
ISBN:
0-87021-713-5
Library
of Congress Number: Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
- CONFESSION TO A DEAF GOD - Memoir of a Mekong River Rat
Author: Gary R.
Blinn
Publisher: Xlibris
Corporation
ISBN: 1-4010-7464-2
Library
of Congress Number: 2002094498
- WAR ON THE RIVERS - A Swift Boat Sailor's Chronicle of the battle
for the Mekong Delta
Author: Weymouth
D. Symmes
Publisher:
Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN:
1-57510-109-2
Library of
Congress Number: 2004092104
- TOUR OF DUTY - John Kerry and the Vietnam War
Author: Douglas
Brinkley
Publisher:
HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:
0-06-056523-3
Library
of Congress Number: Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
- UNFIT FOR COMMAND - Swift Boat Veterans speak out against John Kerry
Authors: John E.
O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, PH.D.
Publisher: Regnery
Publishing, Inc.
ISBN:
0-89526-017-4
Library of
Congress Number: Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
- RIVER RATS
Author: Ralph
Christopher
Publisher:
AuthorHouse
ISBN:
1-4208-2689-1
Library
of Congress Number: Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
- SWIFT BOAT DOWN - The Real Story of the Sinking of PCF-19
Author: James
W. Steffes, ENC, USN Retired
Publisher: Xlibris
Corporation
ISBN:
1-59926-613-X
Library
of Congress Number: 2005907931
- United States Coastal and River Forces in Vietnam - Army, Navy and Coast Guard Insignia;
Including Navy Advisory and Support Units
Author:
Cecil B. Smyth, Jr.
Publisher:
American Society of Military Insignia Collectors
Magazines
| - All Hands Magazine, September 1965 - Counter-Infiltration Duty: Coastal Surveillance | |
| Story by: Thomas L. Moore, JO2 USN Photos by: Jean C. Cote, PH1 USN | |
| - All Hands Magazine, October 1965 - EVOLUTION OF NAVY RATINGS | |
| Prepared by ALL HANDS MAGAZINE | |
| - All Hands Magazine, January 1966 - Swift Boat photo (no visible number) | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, June 1966 - ON THE MOVE (photo of PCF-10 and 4 others, taken from an underway swiftboat in Vietnam) | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, July 1966 - Frontline Sidelines - Vietnam | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, September 1966 - Neptune Surveys the Situation --- Swift Rescue (the story of PCF-61's rescue of 157 Vietnamese) | |
| Author: Eldon G. Kaul, LTJG, USNR | |
| - All Hands Magazine, November 1966 - Sailing in the Midget Fleet; MOS: Many-Ships-in-One; School for Patrol Boat Crews; SMALL Craft: Big Job in Vietnam; Manhattan in Miniature; Noah's Ark of Chu Lai and rear cover "MIDGET FLEET ... WITH A GIANT PUNCH!" (drawing of an underway Swift Boat) | |
| Stories by: Bob Neil, George L. Eldridge, YN3(JO), USN Photos by R. W. Conrad, PHC, USN, George L. Eldridge, YN3(JO), USN | |
| - All Hands Magazine, December 1966 - FROM THE VIETNAM FRONT: On Coastal, Air and River Patrol | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, January 1967 - TURN-OVER-TEST (photos of Philippine Swift Boat turnover); EYES HAVE IT (photo of Swift Boat with Vietnamese junk under tow) | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, July 1967 - Operation Deck House; Going to Vietnam? Check These Rights, Benefits | |
| Author: Marc Whetstone, JOC, USN | |
| - All Hands Magazine, October 1967 - "Intercept Hot Cargo Below Chu Lai (PCF 79 and the Song Sa Ky trawler) | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, February 1968 - Home away from Home (APL 26) | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, June 1968 - A PROUD SHIP REJOINS THE FLEET (New Jersey BB62); CI/SERE Training for Navymen Headed for Vietnam Duty | |
| Author: Jim Teague, JO1, USN, David E. Cockrum, YN3, USN | |
| - All Hands Magazine, July 1968 - Sailing with the Philippine Navy (TURNOVER - six of seven U.S. vessels to be transferred to the Philippine Navy tied to the pier at Manila --- 4 PCFs) | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, November 1968 - SWIFT TAKEOVER - Boat Transfers to Vietnamese Navy (An Thoi); Two More Barracks Ships | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, January 1969 - One-third COPTER, One-third PLANE, One-third BOAT (PACVs); Apple 5 Says Farewell (APL5 leaves DaNang) | |
| Author: Henry Eichel, SN, USN, Rich Lizotte, JO3, USN | |
| - All Hands Magazine, January 1970 - RNV Takes Over MRF; Modernizing the RVN Navy; Concrete Junk? Why Not? (also mentions ferro-cement Swift boat) | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - All Hands Magazine, September 1970 - ACTOV ASAP: Vietnamation; Service Numbers Are on the Way Out as Social Security ID Is Phased into use; Vietnam Rotation | |
| Author: Jim Shields, JO2, USN | |
| - All Hands Magazine, February 1971 - THE EXPANDING ROLE of THE NAVY ADVISOR IN VIETNAMIZATION | |
| official Department of Defense photo | |
| - Popular Mechanics, July 1967 - I SKIPPERED A SWIFT | |
| Author: LTJG Jim Stephens | |
| - SEA CLASSICS, Volume 8, Number 1, January 1975 - Swift Combat Gallery | |
| Author: Matthew Johnson | |
| - SEA CLASSICS, Volume 17, Number 2, March 1984 - The Swift Boats of Vietnam | |
| Author: Frank Johnson | |
| - VIETNAM, February 1996 - Fighting Forces --- The U.S. Navy patrol Vessels of Task Forces 115, 116 and 117 played a key role in the war. | |
| Author: Alan L. "Buz" Lowe | |
| - VIETNAM, February 1996 - Swift Boats in Operation Market Time --- Before 1965, 70 percent of enemy supplies were being infiltrated by sea. But Operation Market Time cut that | |
| Author: Raul Herrera flow to a trickle. | |
| - VIETNAM, August 1997 - Fighting Forces --- "Vietnamization" was the mission, and ACTOV was the U.S. Navy's solution. | |
| Author: R. Blake Dunnavent | |
| - VIETNAM, August 1997 - Arsenal --- The Coast Guard's piggy-back mortar/machine-gun combination proved its worth in Vietnam. | |
| Author: Chief Gunner's Mate William R. Wells, II U.S. Coast Guard (ret.) | |
| - VIETNAM, August 1998 - Mined in the Mekong Delta --- When the VC frogmen struck USS Westchester County on November 1, 1968, they inflicted the Navy's greatest single | |
| Author: Gene W. Frederickson, U.S. Navy (ret.) incident combat loss of the war. | |
| - VIETNAM, August 1999 - Fighting Forces --- For the first time since the Civil War, riverine craft played an important part in combat operations. | |
| Author: Charles W. Sasser | |
| - VIETNAM, April 2000 - Swift Boat Rescue --- When the coastal waters of the South China Sea turned treacherous, it was up to the crew of a U.S. Navy patrol boat to save comrades and | |
| Author: B. Anthony "Tony" Snesko Vietnamese civilians whose boats had capsized. | |
| - VIETNAM, February 2001 - Personality --- The real Adrian Cronauer is a far more complex and interesting figure than the character played by Robin Williams in the film Good Morning, | |
| Author: Gordon Zernich Vietnam. | |