Now thru
November 14, the Maritime Museum of San Diego is presenting a new exhibit: “Swift
Boats at War in Vietnam.”
The exhibit is an immersive
experience based on the book of the same title.
https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/pcf-816-swift-boat/
The exhibit package includes with
general admission:
--Dockside tour of the restored
Swift Boat PCF 816
--View official and candid photo
exhibition
--View paintings by Vietnam combat
artist John Steele
--A powerful collection of Swift
Boat veteran stories.
For those who wish to feel the
thunder a bit closer, there is also a high speed naval history cruise of San
Diego Bay. The water tour (weekends
only) is $10 with paid general admission.
Swift Boat at the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
The U.S. Navy officially called
them Patrol Craft Fast – PCFs for short, but the men who served on them during
Vietnam have always known them as Swift Boat.
In 1971, the US Navy donated two
Swift Boats to the newly formed Republic of Malta’s Maritime Squadron. After 40
years of coastguard duty, Malta retired these boats from service. In 2011,
Malta’s Minister of Defense donated a Swift Boat to the Maritime Museum of San
Diego with our promise to preserve her history and to pay tribute to all Swift
Boat Sailors from both countries.
The Swift Boat Sailors Association
brought this Swift Boat to the Maritime Museum of San Diego to be restored and
operated on San Diego Bay. Museum visitors will have the opportunity to
experience the sound and throbbing vibration from two V12 diesels delivering
980 horsepower for high speed runs through the Bay while retired Swift Boat
Sailors and docents talk about what it was like to be a crewman in Vietnam,
serving as a Quartermaster, Gunner’s Mate, Engineman, Radarman, Bosun’s Mate or
Skipper.
The Navy first used them on coastal
patrol as a part of Operation Market Time to interdict seaborne supplies on
their way to the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army in South Vietnam.
Later, the boats moved into the rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta and the
Ca Mau peninsula to conduct special operations: gunfire support, troop
insertion and evacuation, and raids into enemy territory.
To the U.S. Navy, Swift Boats were
weapons of war. For the officers who commanded them, Swift Boats were a chance
at independent duty at a young age – most men were under 25 years old. For the
sailors who crewed them, Swift Boats were an opportunity to abandon big-ship
confusion and bureaucracy for a small combatant, where every man counted and
where every man could trust his shipmates and befriend them like family.
Their performance was so successful
that the North stopped trying. In 1968 Swift Boats became a part of the Brown
Water Navy, joining PBRs (Patrol Boat River) and the Mobile Riverine Force,
patrolling rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta. This was Admiral Zumwalt’s
successful interdiction strategy, called Operation Sea Lords, to disrupt the
Viet Cong’s mobility.
Maritime Museum of San Diego
1492 North Harbor Drive
San Diego CA 92101-3309
619-234-9153 Ext 101
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