USCGC Point Ellis (WPB-82330) was an 82 foot Point-class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard

United States Coast Guard Yard

The United States Coast Guard Yard or just Coast Guard Yard is a United States Coast Guard operated shipyard located on Curtis Bay in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just south of the Baltimore city limits. It is the coast guard's sole shipbuilding and major repair facility, and part of the...

 at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1962 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1962 was not to name cutters

United States Coast Guard Cutter

Cutter is the term used by the United States Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. A Cutter is or greater in length, has a permanently assigned crew, and has accommodations for the crew to live aboard...

 under 100 feet (30.5 m) in length, it was designated as WPB-82330 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Ellis in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (19.8 m).

Construction details

Point Ellis was built with a mild steel hull and an aluminum superstructure that could accommodate an 8 man crew. She was powered by two 600 horsepower VT600 Cummins diesel main drive engines and had two five bladed 42 inch propellers. The main drive engines were later replaced by 800 horsepower VT800 Cummins engines. Longitudinally framed construction was used to save weight. Water tank capacity was 1550 gal and fuel tank capacity was 1840 gal at 95% full. Frozen food storage was 23 ft3. Accommodations for a 13 man crew were installed for Vietnam service.

History

After delivery in 1962, Point Ellis was assigned a homeport of Port Townsend, Washington

Port Townsend, Washington

Port Townsend is a city in Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately north-northwest of Seattle . The population was 9,113 at the 2010 census an increase of 9.3% over the 2000 census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County...

, where she served as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.

At the request of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, in April 1965, she was alerted for service in Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 and assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One in support of Operation Market Time

Operation Market Time

Operation Market Time was the United States Navy’s effort to stop troops and supplies from flowing by sea from North Vietnam to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War...

 along with 16 other Point class cutters. While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island

Coast Guard Island

Coast Guard Island is in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda, California. The island is situated in the historic Brooklyn Basin, now known as Embarcadero Cove. It is within the Alameda city limits, but is accessible, by car, only via a bridge to Dennison Street in Oakland.The Island...

 and Camp Parks, California

Parks Reserve Forces Training Area

Parks Reserve Forces Training Area is a United States Army facility located in Dublin, California that is currently a semi-active mobilization and training center for Army Reserve Component personnel to be used in case of war or natural disaster....

, Point Ellis was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to Subic Bay

Subic Bay

Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 in May 1965 where she was refit for combat service. Shipyard modifications included installation of new single-sideband radio equipment, additional floodlights, small arms lockers, additional sound-powered phone circuits, and the addition of four M-2 machine guns. The original bow mounted machine gun was replaced with a combination over-under 50 caliber machine gun/81mm trigger fired mortar that had been developed by the Coast Guard for service in Vietnam.
For service in Vietnam, two officers were added to the crew complement to add seniority to the crew in the mission of interdicting vessels at sea.

Point Ellis was assigned to Division 12 of Squadron One to be based at Danang, along with , , , , , and . After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Danang on 16 July 1965 in the company of , their temporary support ship. After almost two weeks at sea, they arrived at their new duty station on 20 July and began patrolling the coastal waters near Danang Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board. Permanent engineering and logistic support of Division 12 was provided by a U.S. Navy non-self-propelled floating workshop, YR-71. During this time, the WPB's were directed to paint the hulls and superstructures formula 20 deck gray to cover the stateside white paint. This increased the effectiveness of night patrols.

On 5 February 1966 Point Ellis attempted to board a junk

Junk (ship)

A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...

 and the five man crew beached the craft and fled the scene. A landing party from Point Ellis went after them and managed to capture one along with identification papers and belongings of the others. This type of landing party action was seen by the commander of Squadron One as too hazardous and orders were issued not to pursue fleeing Viet Cong suspects through the surf.

While on patrol on 8 December 1966, Point Ellis came across a non-motorized fishing boat with two very frightened men aboard that had been blown by tropical storms away from Hainan Island

Hainan

Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...

, part of the Peoples Republic of China. The Law of the Sea

Law of the sea

Law of the sea may refer to:* United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea* Admiralty law* The Custom of the Sea...

 required their rescue and they were returned to their homeland through diplomatic channels.

On 14 March 1967, she detected an enemy steel-hulled trawler and forced it to beach. The Viet Cong crew was forced to scuttle the trawler and destroy its cargo of mortars, small arms, uniforms and other contraband. In May of the same year the cutter's Vietnamese liaison officer and a crewman from the Point Ellis went into the water to recover a sailor lost overboard from the .

On 9 December 1969, Point Ellis was turned over to the Republic of Vietnam Navy

Republic of Vietnam Navy

The Republic of Vietnam Navy was the naval force of the former Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France. After 1955 and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States...

 as part of the Vietnamization

Vietnamization

Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard M. Nixon administration during the Vietnam War, as a result of the Viet Cong's Tet Offensive, to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S....

of the war effort and recommissioned as Lê Ngọc Thanh.

External links

• The Coast Guard's Vietnam Augusta State University website