# Vietnam War



## Manchester (Feb 24, 2011)

Was the "Woodburn" the only British ship to go to Vietnam in 1965?

I joined her in Birkenhead drydock in July 1965 and we picked up an American charter. On arrival in Morehead City we were informed we were now sub chartered to the American government for a trip to Vietnam. We loaded a deck cargo of air landing mats to build a runway at Cam Ranh Bay. We the proceeded to Norfolk Va. to load rockets and tanks for Saigon and Danang.

On the Suez Canal trip we were lead ship in the convoy until the port anchor fell off! Then, after the Bitter lakes convoy changeover, we were relegated to last position, after a submarine and a yacht!

The trip up to Saigon was taken at full speed, rather hairy as the delta has numerous bends in it which caused to heal over quite alarmingly. Saigon was a charming French type colonial city with plenty of girls and bars etc.

The trip from Saigon to Cam Ranh Bay has a few heart stopping moments. Unknown to us the code we told to use to communicate by Aldis to the numerous American warships stationed off the coast had been changed within hours of us sailing. Instead of changing it every 24 hours we should have been changing it every 12 hours. After several repeat requests from one warship a rather large American bomber took off and with blue pyrotechnic lights and bomb doors open he circled us for what seemed hours flying lower and lower until I assume he spotted our name and flew off. Obviously we were foreign flag to them and totally different profile from the American Liberty boats normally seen on the coast.

We safely arrived in Cam Ranh Bay and all our landing mats were discharged by American soldiers who were definately smoking something odd! You took your life in your hands going on deck with derricks flying around everywhere.This is where the second incident occured with the Yanks. We were sat on the poop deck in the anchorage having a few beers when a shell screamed overhead and landed in the anchorage about a mile astern of us. We later heard they had spotted and unlit target and promptly blew it out of the water. It turned out to be several of their men who had been on a secret reconnaisance trip to the other side of the bay.

Danang was a quick in and out apart from the Captain steaming off to the British embassy to put in a formal complaint about the aircraft buzzing us - which is how we heard about the codebook fiasco.

Also our B.O.T. regs insisted we had to be in a war zone for 5 days (which was backdated) before we could claim double pay. Needless to say the Yanks were on double pay from the moment they left the States until they returned.

We returned to the States for a second trip to Vietnam via Benghazi where we ran aground (deliberate pilot eror) and managed to slow steam to Malta where after 6 weeks in drydock I was paid off. I believe the ship did finish the voyage to Vietnam but not certain.


----------



## tunatownshipwreck (Nov 9, 2005)

I remember LOF ships loading cargo here for Vietnam.


----------



## taccrington (Dec 18, 2009)

Four L.O.F general cargo vessels where on charter to States Marine.
I served on the London Craftsman and did two trips from the States 
to Siagon, with a cargo of combat rations and cotton.
It always amused me a year before all L.O.F. ship had been black by the Yanks because they traded with Russia and Cuba.


----------



## andysk (Jun 16, 2005)

I seem to remember being told of a small ad in Lloyds List I think in the early/mid 1970's looking for, among others, an R/O to join an unamed company running cargos of sewing machines from Shanghai to Hanoi, at unbelievable rates of pay !

Apocrophal - probably !


----------



## sparkie2182 (May 12, 2007)

" an R/O to join an unamed company running cargos of sewing machines from Shanghai to Hanoi, at unbelievable rates of pay !"

Is the vacancy still open?


----------



## tunatownshipwreck (Nov 9, 2005)

andysk said:


> I seem to remember being told of a small ad in Lloyds List I think in the early/mid 1970's looking for, among others, an R/O to join an unamed company running cargos of sewing machines from Shanghai to Hanoi, at unbelievable rates of pay !
> 
> Apocrophal - probably !


Getting that ship into Hanoi would be hard work. Isn't the draft only 10 feet?


----------



## Wallace Slough (Mar 21, 2009)

Manchester: You state that the "Yanks were on double pay from the moment they left the States until they returned." This is incorrect. There was a "War Zone" near the coast of Vietnam where double pay was started on your base salary. Efforts were made to get the ships in and out of the "War Zone" as fast as possible. At the beginning of the war, it was normal to spend considerable time in the "War Zone." As the ports were modernized and updated, time in the "War Zone" was minimal. An exception to higher pay was if a ship was carrying ammunition. In that case, the base salary was increased (not doubled) to compensate for the hazardous cargo from the time the cargo was loaded until it was discharged.


----------



## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

taccrington said:


> Four L.O.F general cargo vessels where on charter to States Marine.
> I served on the London Craftsman and did two trips from the States
> to Siagon, with a cargo of combat rations and cotton.
> It always amused me a year before all L.O.F. ship had been black by the Yanks because they traded with Russia and Cuba.


Welcome to SN, Taccrington - are you aware of the LOF website (www.lof-news.co.uk)?

"London Statesman" was sank alongside by a mine in Nha Trang and I think I heard she was also sank by gunfire in the river, but not sure about that one. She sailed on with LOF until 1979. In 1983, renamed "Skaros" she was hit by an exocet missile when sailing from Bandar Khomeini. Declared a total loss.

John T.


----------



## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

" an R/O to join an unamed company running cargos of sewing machines from Shanghai to Hanoi, at unbelievable rates of pay !"

Didn't Dirk Bogarde make a film of this: "The Singer not the Wong ... er ...Song"?

Wouldn't it have been easier to send them by truck with an unbelievably low paid driver? Unless the cargo wasn't really sewing machines ... they could have been getting stitched up!

John T.


----------



## tunatownshipwreck (Nov 9, 2005)

Wallace Slough said:


> Manchester: You state that the "Yanks were on double pay from the moment they left the States until they returned." This is incorrect. There was a "War Zone" near the coast of Vietnam where double pay was started on your base salary. Efforts were made to get the ships in and out of the "War Zone" as fast as possible. At the beginning of the war, it was normal to spend considerable time in the "War Zone." As the ports were modernized and updated, time in the "War Zone" was minimal. An exception to higher pay was if a ship was carrying ammunition. In that case, the base salary was increased (not doubled) to compensate for the hazardous cargo from the time the cargo was loaded until it was discharged.


I believe the pay also went up if the ship was fired on.


----------



## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

"I believe the pay also went up if the ship was fired on."

There was a $200 Harbor Attack Bonus if a ship within a quarter mile of your ship was attacked. You could only collect one Harbor Attack Bonus per harbor per voyage.

There was a $300 Vessel Attack Bonus, but payable only ONCE per voyage. 

If a Vessel Attack Bonus occurred in a harbor no Harbor Attack Bonus would be paid for that particular Harbor.

At payoff the bonus was paid separate with $196 retained for taxes, paying $104 at payoff.

If you were killed there was a $20,000 payment to your designated beneficiary.

Greg Hayden


----------



## tunatownshipwreck (Nov 9, 2005)

kewl dude said:


> "I believe the pay also went up if the ship was fired on."
> 
> There was a $200 Harbor Attack Bonus if a ship within a quarter mile of your ship was attacked. You could only collect one Harbor Attack Bonus per harbor per voyage.
> 
> ...


Thanks.
I wish I could remember the name of the ship that had bullet marks along one side of the superstructure, with a few vacant port holes, incurred while heading up the Mekong to Cambodia in 1970 or 1971, but it was a real eye-opener to me at 16, trying to get into the merchant marine.


----------



## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

I was on a old clapped out , falling apart BP tanker . We were alongside the jetty at Kharg Island and ahead of us was brand spanking new BP Product carrier. The R/O came over and asked me if I was interested in a swap. "Where are you going " I asked. "Oh, Vietnam with a cargo of aviation spirit. I decided to stay where I was....
rgds
Graham Powell


----------



## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I sailed with a Filipino 2nd Engineer who had some hair raising tales of his 11 years on a bunker barge in the Mekong River during the war. They were sunk several times. I said: "It sounds pretty scary." He said: "Not as scary as Manila!"

John T.


----------



## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

*North Vietnam...*

Interesting thread...

I went to North Vietnam (a place called Haiphong I seem to remember) when we were on charter to the Chinese. The old grey cells are getting weaker by the day but I 'think' it was when I was R/O on the Wendover in '62/'63...

Our Mk 4 radar was playing up as we entered Haiphong so I asked the OM to check that I could run the Mk 4 in port. Permission was duly granted but a Vietnamese guard was allocated to shadow me and watch my every move. Whilst the display was obviously in the Wheelhouse the rest of the gubbins was in the funnel accessed from the monkey island. If I went up and down thirty times - so did he !!

We couldn't normally use the radio in port and I remember a seal being put over the power switches.

We went to Haiphong from one of the mainland Chinese ports passing through the Hainan Straits and were told to hang an Union Jack flag over the side. A couple of fast patrol boats came out to have a look at us, they'd obviously been forewarned to expect us.

Whilst in port we were taken ashore to a 'party'. Food and music - and pretty hostessess - talk but no touching !!! [=D]

Called in a few interesting places whilst on the Chinese charter, Durazzo in Albania being one, Cuba of course and loads of Chinese ports. Always remember being ashore in mainland China and there was some sort of carnival, lots of people milling around. A couple of us went over to have a look. One of the floats had a model of an American U2 Spy Plane with the pilot lying on the gound next to it - minus his head... Obviously relating to Gary Powers who had been shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. Everyone was very excited and I felt we rather stood in the crowd so we gingerly legged it back to the ship!

Worked XSG in Shanghai dozens of times, good station, I found the Chinese Coast Stations generally very good, some of them are still sending cw on HF.

Happy days.


----------



## Nova Scotian (Jul 2, 2006)

*Denby Grange in Vietnam*

As an apprentice, visited Saigon on Houlder's Denby Grange in 1967. Discharged av gas at a berth which was next to a US army base. The base was home to a number of long range artillery pieces that continually shelled targets that were radioed in from the field. Shook the whole ship every time they let go. Visited the base to play football and watch a movie. The base was also a POW camp and prisoners were escorted down to the river by the ship each day to wash and do laundry. Tank cleaning for av gas was a pain and hardly worth the additional three pounds I received for war zone bonus.


----------



## Baulkham Hills (Jul 11, 2008)

In 1970 I was on a ship going from Bangkok to Hong Kong, at sea we were given instructions to call into a port in South Vietnam. This ship was crewed by a chinese crew heavily influenced by the Cultural Revolution taking place at that time in China and could be quite difficult to deal with. The crew refused point blank to go there and eventually we continued on our way to Hong Kong. A short time afterwards the crew was changed to Filipino.
As regards war bonus I was on a vessel stranded in Beirut during the civil war for two weeks and numerous times in the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war and never received a cent of war bonus. The annoying part is that the underwriters considered it a risk to the ship but the owners did not consider it a risk for the people onboard and also our personal insurances did not cover us in a war zone.

In 2009 I received a bonus (double pay) for about 10 days due to the Somali pirates threat. While the danger to life is not of the same magnitude as in a war zone. To be held for ransom by drugged up kids with AK-47's for months eating goat and rice if you were lucky does not appeal either. That was the experience of another company ship which was hijacked earlier. 

Cheers


----------



## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

I was in the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war on a Shell VLCC. We got a nice war bonus - double pay.

Thanks Joe Shell.


----------



## Criffh (Feb 27, 2006)

I was R/O on Texaco Bahrain/GQNB in 1970/71, during which time we did several runs between Singapore and Saigon, with only a part-cargo, so that we could get up the river. Lots of sandbags around the bridge, and double-bubble for all those on board. While we were discharging in Saigon, anti-personnel mines were sporadically dropped off the main deck into the the river, in order to deter swimmers from carrying magnetic mines from the opposite bank. On one occasion we had a new master on board. No one had thought of warning him about the mines. I was standing on the outside of the midships accommodation, looking aft, when the first mine exploded, causing an enormous explosion and reverberation. Seconds later, the captain appeared, in his nightclothes, racing across the deck and disappearing down into the pumproom which he thought had exploded.


----------



## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

Moss Tankers ( Cunard Brocklebank ) were there ; no medals although a few tried to get them . The pain in the **** for the engineers was that the US guards would drop those precussion grenades over the side to ward off enemy frogmen . These were deployed at irregular hours so that no pattern could be formulated .
Pain in the butt as when they went off they tripped most of the electrial staters and shut down generator cooling pumps etc .
Duty engineer had to run around getting the plant up and going again .

Derek


----------



## Hugh Wilson (Aug 18, 2005)

I was R/O on the Texaco Wellington in 1971 when we did several Singapore to Saigon runs. Exactly as Criffh says, with sandbags, grenades, mines, M16 rifles etc. Very noisy when alongside in Saigon, with the field guns firing every few minutes. During one river pilotage, one of the boiler safety valves lifted several times in rapid succession, sounding just like a heavy machine gun. The pilot panicked and was found hiding in a corner in the chart room causing great amusement. We were scheduled for more Saigon trips, but had to go to dry dock in Singapore for repairs after which it was the Australian coast for 3 months.


----------



## Mayday (May 26, 2009)

Too young for Vietnam. My only experience with the military was during the Iran/Iraq war on MV Tor Bay, a container ship run by P and O containers. We got war bonus for being in the PG.
We used to get a destroyer convoy escort, the Armilla Patrol.
One voyage we had HMS Manchester which was carrying SNOME, Senior Naval Officer Middle East. SNOME ask if we could do an exchange visit and send two of our officers over to HMS Manchester whilst SNOME and another officer visited our ship. It was decided that the only officers who could be spared were the RO and Second Mate. We exchanged via inflatable in the middle of the PG.
Next trip the Armilla Patrol was HMS Southampton and we were the only ship in the convoy. We received orders to continue on navtrack at a speed of 15kts, due North to Straits of Hormuz. Something went badly wrong on HMS Southampton as she cut across our bows and we hit her amidships.
Now we were in a mess as we were heading into indian territory with the convoy escort firmly attached for'ard. Luckily, no-one was badly hurt and we got an extra 10 days bonus in Dubai dry dock.

John McKay.


----------



## stuartcooper35 (6 mo ago)

Criffh said:


> I was R/O on Texaco Bahrain/GQNB in 1970/71, during which time we did several runs between Singapore and Saigon, with only a part-cargo, so that we could get up the river. Lots of sandbags around the bridge, and double-bubble for all those on board. While we were discharging in Saigon, anti-personnel mines were sporadically dropped off the main deck into the the river, in order to deter swimmers from carrying magnetic mines from the opposite bank. On one occasion we had a new master on board. No one had thought of warning him about the mines. I was standing on the outside of the midships accommodation, looking aft, when the first mine exploded, causing an enormous explosion and reverberation. Seconds later, the captain appeared, in his nightclothes, racing across the deck and disappearing down into the pumproom which he thought had exploded.











Texaco Tankers | Facebook


This group is dedicated to Relatives, Crew, Officers, Shore & Office staff. All welcome with your photos and stories about your life and times aboard Texaco Tankers။




www.facebook.com


----------

