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PCF
Patrol Craft Fast - SWIFT
Displacement: 17.5 tons
light, 22.2 tons full load
Length: 51 feet
Beam: 15, feet
Draft: 3.5 feet
Propulsion: 2-12V71N diesels (General Motors); 960 bhp; 2 shafts
Speed: 28 knots
Range: 350 n.m at 28 knots
Crew: 6 (1 officer + 5 enlisted)
Weapons: 1 81-mm mortar Mk 2/1 .50-cal MG M22 .50-cal MG (1
twin)
General: A well-known series of inshore patrol
craft. These are all-metal craft adopted from an oil rig crew boat
used to support offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mission endurance is up to five days.
Note: All specifications for PCF Mk II, Mk I is similar. Photo shows a Mk I PCF off the Ca Mau Peninsula near SEA
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Photo: US Navy
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HISTORY: Link to: http://www.rivervet.com/swifts.htm
for a complete description of this craft.
(Linked with permission)
On 28 June, Admiral George W. Anderson, the Chief of Naval Operations,
assigned the boats to the Pacific Fleet's Amphibious Group I, to occur
immediately following modifications to their armament. Technicians added
two 40mm automatic grenade launchers and two 20mm automatic cannons, plus
two 3.5-inch rocket launchers and provisions for up to three
flamethrowers. Work was completed by the end of August, and the boats were
loaded aboard the transport ship Vancouver- for the journey to San Diego
via the Panama Canal.
All this took time, however and the CIA needed to gets its
maritime operations back up to speed. Gougleman needed an interim boat to
put into immediate operation before the arrival of the Nastys. The answer
came from another covert operation, this one in Cuba. Since the 1961 Bay
of Pigs disaster the Agency had been authorized to conduct a maritime
harassment campaign against Cuban ruler Fidel Castro, and they picked a
boat that already was a common sight on the Gulf of Mexico -- a vessel
made by Seward Seacraft in Burwick, Louisiana, known as the Swift.
Originally designed for oil companies operating in the Gulf's far flung
drilling platforms, it was 15 meters long, displaced 20 tons, and had two
diesel engines.
The Swifts were still in California undergoing modifications when the
call came for boats to handle North Vietnam missions. Three were
immediately crated and sent to the Philippines. From there, they were
ferried to Saigon. Sailing up the coast to DaNang, they were ready for
action by October 1963. While the Swifts were a welcome addition to
Gougleman's clandestine maritime force, they had one drawback. Though
easier to maintain than the temperamental Nastys, they represented an
insurmountable leap in technology for the CIA's existing roster of junk
crewmen. This put the Agency in a fix. Forbidden from recruiting
experienced sailors from the South Vietnamese navy, and also unable to use
Americans in order to uphold plausible deniability, there was nobody on
hand to operate the boats.
So the CIA turned to foreign experts. As they already had developed
good contacts in Oslo during the Nasty purchase, they arranged for three
Norwegian civilians to be hired on six-month contracts. Arriving in
DaNang,
they were given the barely disguised codename "Viking" and
assigned as skippers, one per Swift. Young and aggressive, the Norwegians
got along well with the South Vietnamese. "They were real
Vikings," remembers Captain Truong Duy Tai, a maritime case officer.
"They knew about navigation so well."
“On January 16, 1964, MACV activated the Studies and Observations
Group, with staff section Op 31 to control maritime operations (MAROPS).
The CIA relinquished its responsibility for the boat effort, and the Swift
(PCF) force, augmented by eight heavily armed assault boats (PTF
- Nasties) from the Navy, came under Op 31 control for missions. The
Navy assumed control of Da Nang base, adding a boat support unit, SEAL
Team 1, and a maintenance detachment with 100 tons of spare parts.” [Prados,
WIS p. 48]
PRESENT CONDITIONS:
The Navy Museum, Washington DC. - PCF-1
(Photos take during initial setup in October,
2000.)
DOCUMENTATION:
Operation and Service Manual for
Twin Screw Aluminum 50-Foot Patrol Craft Fast (PCF) Mark2
Navships 0900-031-7010
READERS COMMENTS:
`Dan Here is an interesting piece of History. I can remember that they first wanted to use barrels from air craft mounts to save weight as the twin mount was above the cabin. Well this was good thinking except for one thing, it's a lot cooler when the plane is in the air and there is no way that a PCF can travel on the water in Ca. or Viet Nam and keep a light weight barrel
cool. Of course we enlisted didn't know any thing but when rounds came out of the sides of the barrels They was changed out for the
heavier barrels asap !!Jim
(09-28-02) Dan, Someone is trying to blow smoke up
somebody's ass as to that ever being a PCF!!! Jim
http://www.e-c-q.com/ecqmerchants/forsale/boats/010014.php
Readers, what do you think?
( 09-30-02) Chip The pictures are of one of the three Swifts that we had at MST-1/NAD, Da Nang, can't remember what it was but you could tell the boats apart as there was a small different between them. Only the Boats built for the Navy had the gun tubs above the pilot house and other goodies that we didn't have. Such as fridge and freezer and a five KW generator and F/W tank with a sink. Jim
| No .50 caliber gun tub on SOG
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