Nhà Bè Base

Nhà Bè Base (also known as Nhà Bè Naval Support Activity or Nhà Bè Logistics Support Base) is a former U.S. Navy and Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN) base in Nhà Bè District in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) of Vietnam now used as a base by the Vietnam Coast Guard.

Nhà Bè Base
Nhà Bè Base, 29 January 1967
Nhà Bè Base
Coordinates10.67°N 106.767°E / 10.67; 106.767 (Nhà Bè Base)
TypeNavy
Site information
Controlled byVietnam Coast Guard
Site history
Built1966
In use1966–present
Battles/wars
Vietnam War

History
Nhà Bè, 27 September 1967

The base is located in Nhà Bè District approximately 10 miles (16 km) south southeast of Saigon at the junction of the Soài Rạp and Lòng Tàu Rivers.[1]

The base was first established by the US Navy in May 1966 to support Operation Game Warden and particularly patrolling of the Rung Sat Special Zone.[2]:290 Mine Squadron 11, Detachment Alpha equipped with 12 minesweeping boats (MSBs) (57 feet (17 m) long, wooden-hulled boats) were the first Navy vessels deployed there[3]:26[4]:153–5

Construction of the base first involved the dredging of 300,000 cubic yards of sand, filling and compacting of the marshland, following which construction included barracks for 400 men, storage for 3,000 barrels of petrol, oil and lubricants (POL), a storage warehouse of 8,000 square feet, a communications and administration building, ammunition storage, two antenna towers, a mess-hall, a pier, and the required road, water, sewerage and power facilities.[2]:291 The overall construction period took 14 months,[4]:115 however the base began operation as construction was ongoing and by late 1966 Nhà Bè was also the base for three platoons from SEAL Team 1[3]:64[4]:29 and was also a Patrol Boat, River (PBR) base.[4]:103 By August 1967, a two-helicopter detachment from HA(L)-3 was located at the base[4]:126.

On 2 January 1968 a Viet Cong (VC) 75mm recoilless-rifle attack against on the base wounded two sailors and scored a direct hit on an MSB which was destroyed.[4]:280

In May 1968 Mine Squadron 11, Detachment Alpha became Mine Division 112.[3]:27 From September 1968 on six medium minesweepers (MSMs, formerly LCM(M)s) and four drone minesweepers (MSDs) of the newly created Mine Division 113 were based at Nhà Bè.[3]:29

The base was transferred to the RVNN in April 1972.[5]

Located on the Lòng Tàu River north of the base, the Nhà Bè fuel depot was the largest fuel storage facility in South Vietnam with approximately 80% of the nation's storage capacity.[6] On the night of 3 December 1973 the VC hit the fuel depot with rocket fire destroying or damaging 30 fuel tanks and igniting over 600,000 barrels of fuel.[7][8]

Early in 1975, the RVNN created Riverine Task Force 99 based at Nhà Bè.[3]:78

The base remains in use today by the Vietnam Coast Guard.

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References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

  1. Kelley, Michael (2002). Where we were in Vietnam. Hellgate Press. p. 5–360. ISBN 978-1-55571-625-7.
  2. Tregaskis, Richard (1975). Southeast Asia: Building the Bases; the History of Construction in Southeast Asia. Washington, DC: Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. Marolda, Edward (2015). Combat at Close Quarters Warfare on the Rivers and Canals of Vietnam (PDF). United States Navy Naval History and Heritage Command. ISBN 9780945274735. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. Sherwood, John (2015). War in the shallows: U.S. Navy coastal and riverine warfare in Vietnam 1965–68 (PDF). Naval History and Heritage Command. ISBN 9780945274766. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. Marolda, Edward (1997). By Sea, Air, and Land: An Illustrated History of the U. S. Navy and the War in Southeast Asia. US Navy History and Heritage Command. p. 318. ISBN 9780-788132506. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. Dunn, Carroll (1972). Vietnam Studies Base Development in South Vietnam 1965-1970 (PDF). Department of the Army. pp. 124–5. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. James Markham (3 December 1973). "Vietnam Reds set fuel depot afire". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  8. Hunt, Ira (2013). Losing Vietnam: How America Abandoned Southeast Asia. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813142067.

Footage of the base in 1967

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