Vietnam Service of the Seventh Fleet, 1962-1973

Few Americans recognize that from the time that United States' assistance to the Republic of South Vietnam was confined to an advisory status through the period of major combat actions, the varied and extensive roles of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet were crucial to the overall military effort in Southeast Asia.

Mobility and the endurance sustained by underway replenishment forces resulted in maximum use of Seventh Fleet carriers for retaliatory raids, for strikes in support of troops ashore, and for attacks against the enemy lines of communication.

USS Enterprise

Naval air operations were of particular importance until adequate airfields could be built ashore.

In addition, the ability of task forces to operate in nearby Tonkin Gulf permitted effective and efficient air operations against targets in North Vietnam.

Battleship New Jersey

Attached to the Seventh Fleet the Battleship New Jersey fired 3,000 rounds of her 16 inch guns and 7,000 rounds of her smaller guns into enemy coastal positions in support of ground troops in Vietnam.

Destroyers and cruisers added the weight of their gunfire in support of forces ashore, and conducted operations against the logistic lines of the enemy along the coast of North Vietnam.

After early participation by the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the detection of infiltration by sea from the north, a Coastal Surveillance Force, (TF115), conducted inshore operations as well as off shore patrols to augment the efforts of the Vietnamese Navy.

The Amphibious Force of the Seventh Fleet projected ashore the U.S. Marines, at Danang in March 1965, and carried out many later landings.As you will see LST 1159, Tom Green County served with distinction in several phases of the Seventh Fleet's Vietnam operations.

In addition,

Seal Teams engaged
in guerilla warfare
against the Viet
Cong

The River Patrol Force(TF 117), extended the control of waterways in the Mekong Delta and other areas of the Republic. The joint Navy-Army operations of the Mobile Riverine Force captured base areas and defeated enemy concentrations.

Elements of the Coastal Surveillance, River Patrol, and Mobile Riverine Forces were combined to interdict infiltration routes from Cambodia into the Mekong Delta, to control vital Delta waterways, and to harrass the enemy in his base areas.

Essential support to in country forces was provided by the Service Force's naval support activities and Seabees.

Sea lines of logistics were a key to the defense of the northern provinces. The naval medical personnel with the Marines, in hospitals and in hospital ships, saved lives and healed the wounded with unprecedented success. Salvage forces recovered ships in distress and cleared waterways.

From across the seas came the vast quantity of supplies required to fight this major war. All but a small percentage of the tonnage was delivered by ships under the Navy's Military Sealift Command.

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