A reminder that the US Navy in and off Vietnam went on for about 6 years after this first film was made.
The second film, also from 1967, is about the U.S. Coast Guard serving in Vietnamese waters.
Finally, a later film "The U.S. Navy in the Vietnam War: The Ten Thousand Day War at Sea"
When I was in 4th grade we moved. We moved a bunch that year and I ended up attending 4 very different schools.
Somewhere along the way, the multiplication tables eluded me - to the extent I flunked math in my final school of that year.
My dad was an engineer and Air Force navigator and quite adept at things mathematical. He was not happy with my math status - not one bit. So over the summer he took on the challenge of tutoring me on those "times tables."
While I resisted, his quiet patience soon had me reciting the tables to his satisfaction. More than that, I got to know him in a different way. Over the years, I have come to look back on that summer as a very important part of my life. The discipline of sticking to things that seemed hard at the time, the idea that all things were possible with effort, the knowledge that he cared about me - those things I learned from my father that summer all of which carried me forward in life.
In fact, that math work helped me with learning to appreciate statistics and earning a National Science Foundation grant when I was an undergraduate. Math skills helped when I was a ship's navigator. Helped me when I got a Masters in Management. Later on, statistics helped by analyze risks in the corporate legal work I did. It also helps me appreciate the widespread misuse of statistics for exploitive purposes. Some of these things my dad knew about, and I hope that he knew how much that summer of re-direction meant in my life.
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| Dad during the Korean War |
For you, Dad, on this Father's Day - thanks again.
The WWII Japanese path to Australia ran through the Solomons. Stopping them in New Guinea and the Solomons was vital.
The days of creating patrol boats by outfitting general-use motorboats and fishing trawlers with machine guns and obsolete naval weapons are long gone. That was World War II.
Jump ahead 80 years, and patrol boats have evolved into platforms that have the latest navigation, communications, and propulsion systems while being designed and built with highly efficient hulls that move easily and rapidly through the water and can carry out multiple missions in locations across the globe.
Three cases in point: MetalCraft Marine is building 65 patrol boats that will mostly operate in foreign waters; a high-speed 35-footer from Moose Boats that’s outfitted with fire-fighting systems; and Inventech Marine Solutions’ 40' patrol boat for a sheriff’s department in Florida, which hits 72 mph.
If you think people are expendable and the people involved think dying is an honor, then you get suicide planes, suicide vest wearers, and the like.
Referenced MARAD advisory here
U.S.-flagged commercial vessels operating in these areas are advised to remain as far as possible from Yemen’s coastline without compromising navigational safety. Crewmembers should be especially vigilant when at anchor, operating in restricted maneuvering conditions, loitering, or proceeding at slow speeds.
U.S.-flagged commercial vessels should coordinate voyage planning with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS) and consider their recommendations and guidance whenever possible. NAVCENT NCAGS stands a 24-hour watch and has the latest information on the current maritime security threats and the operational environment in this region.
Stand off antisubmarine system. Stand off being important in certain cases.
Every U.S. Navy sailor should have firefighting training. Every single one.
Back before gas turbines and currently in some older large deck amphibs - long ago we all got trained on the operations of the steam plant.
Six days after China Coast Guard cutters blasted out the windows of a Philippine resupply ship with a water cannon, Manila is weighing whether a 70-year-old mutual defense pact could compel the U.S. military to defend Filipino forces in the South China Sea as a result.
***The attack, the ninth and most aggressive since Chinese cutters restarted a campaign blocking the monthly resupply runs to the World War II-era Sierra Madre, is prompting politicians, analysts and lawyers across the Pacific to weigh the U.S. obligation to come to Manila’s aid under a 1951 mutual defense pact.
Both the U.S. State and Defense departments issued statements this week pledging commitment to the treaty.
“The United States reaffirms that Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft – including those of its Coast Guard – anywhere in the South China Sea,” reads the statement from Foggy Bottom.
While the worst-case scenario under the defense treaty could lead to open war with China, the agreement has options for the U.S. to support Manila diplomatically short of armed conflict. However, the 1951 treaty’s application in the 21st century raises questions about whether the Chinese use of water cannons constitutes an armed attack or if the resupply missions are categorized as civilian or military, opening up several legal interpretations.
Read the whole article.
The question of whether such use of water cannons by China constitutes an "armed" attack sufficient to trigger the defense pact has been frequently raised on our Midrats podcast. China's assertion of entitlement to vast areas of the South China Sea and its aggressive efforts to enforce those claims despite a lack of legal justification are an interesting test case in how close to a line it can walk before triggering similar counter activities or more. However, it is vital that the U.S. support, in every way possible, our allies and treaty partners in the region.
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You can also watch the movie
An account of the Battle of Hampton Roads begins here:
Update -Had some early coding issues which now seem to be fixed.At ten minutes before ten, on the morning of the 30th of January, 1862, an iron floating battery, designed for the Government of the United States by John Ericsson, and named, at his suggestion, the Monitor, was launched at Green Point, Long Island, and at three p.m., on the 25th of February, formally taken possession of by the Navy Department, and put in commission at the Navy Yard, New York.
On Thursday, the 6th of March, this novel float, concerning whose fate many gloomy predictions had been hazarded, left the Lower Bay in tow of the steamer Seth Low, and, with a fair wind and smooth sea, steered for Hampton Roads. . . .
It's been too long since I last reported on the work of the ICC-IMB Piracy Reporting Centre which produces the "Live Piracy Map" and maintains a database of attacks which culminates in their Annual Piracy Report. Here's a summary for 2023:
So far in 2024:
2024 West Africa and Indian Ocean:
2024 Southeast Asia:
For reference 2023 and 2022:
The patterns are nearly the same as those that preceded the explosion of piracy off Somalia. The reasons remain the same - pirates/sea robbers attack where the ships are.
The Piracy Reporting Centre is to be commended in their effort to keep the issues involving attacks on shipping and merchant mariners in the public eye.
