USCGC Point Marone (WPB-82331) 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-82331 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Marone in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (19.8 m).

Construction details

Point Marone was built with a mild steel hull and an aluminum superstructure that could accommodate an 8 man crew. She was powered by two 800 horsepower VT800 Cummins diesel main drive engines and had two five bladed 42 inch propellers. 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 Marone was assigned a homeport of San Pedro, California, 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 Marone 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, bunks, 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/81 mm 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 Marone was assigned to Division 11 of Squadron One to be based at An Thoi, a small fishing village on the southern tip of Phu Quoc Island along with , , , , , , and . After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Phu Quoc on 17 July 1965 in the company of , their temporary support ship. After almost two weeks at sea, they arrived at their new duty station on 1 August and began patrolling the waters in the Gulf of Thailand

Gulf of Thailand

The Gulf of Thailand , also known in to Malays as Teluk Siam literally meant Gulf of Siam, is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:...

 near the Cà Mau Peninsula

Ca Mau Peninsula

peninsula makes up the southern tip of Vietnam. It is in Ca Mau province, and lies between the Gulf of Thailand to the west and the South China Sea to the east....

. Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board. During September 1965, , a repair ship outfitted for the repair of WPB's relieved the Floyd County. Also 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.

While on patrol in the Gulf of Thailand near the Cambodian border on the night of 19 September 1965 Point Marone intercepted a suspicious junk operating near Ha Tien

Hà Tiên

Hà Tiên or Ha Tien is a town in Kien Giang Province, Tay Nam Bo of Vietnam. Area: 8,851.5 ha, population : 39,957. The town borders Cambodia to the west....

 and warned it to stop for boarding. After receiving fire from the junk she returned fire, and with assistance from Point Glover they sank the junk in fifteen feet of water. After the junk was recovered the following day, rifles, grenades, ammunition and documents were discovered. The only survivor of the crew of the junk provided intelligence which led to a raid on Hon Mot that was conducted on 26 September. Point Marone participated in the raid along with cutters Point Comfort and Point Grey by transporting civilian irregular defense group (CIDG

CIDG

CIDG can refer to:*CIDG-FM, a new Canadian radio station*Civilian Irregular Defense Group, an irregular military unit used during the Vietnam War...

) mercenaries and their Special Forces advisors to the raid and providing fire support with the 81 mm mortar.

On 4 August 1970, Point Marone and , conducted the last mission for Squadron One on the Co Chien River

Cổ Chiên River

The Cổ Chiên River is a river of Vietnam. It flows for 82 kilometres through Ben Tre Province, Trà Vinh Province and Vĩnh Long Province....

. The cutters each carried fifty Kit Carson Scouts

Kit Carson Scouts

The Kit Carson Scouts belonged to a special program initially created by the U.S...

 and their ARVN advisors along with the full 13 man South Vietnamese Navy replacement crew aboard for their final check ride for 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....

 program. In one of the canals that intersected with the river Point Marone hit a command detonated mine wounding several on board and causing several holes below the waterline. The mission was cancelled and Point Cypress escorted her back to the base at Cat Lo.

On 15 August 1970, Point Marone along with Point Cypress were turned over to the South Vietnamese Navy 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; the last two of the 26 Point-class cutters assigned to Squadron One. Point Marone was recommissioned as RVNS Trương Ba (HQ-725).

External links

• The Coast Guard's Vietnam Augusta State University website