WATCH: The Brown Water Navy and Swift Boats of Vietnam
History
By Matt Fratus | June 16, 2021
In the Vietnam War, apart from the “Blue Water Navy” arsenal of aircraft carriers, battleships, and destroyers, there was a small fleet of Patrol Craft, Fast (PCF), otherwise known as Swift Boats. These high-speed, unarmored aluminum vessels were tasked with hazardous coastal and riverine interdiction operations. They also supported US Navy SEALs for infiltration and exfiltration. The Swift Boats, among other smaller watercraft, made up the “Brown Water Navy” — a term associated with boats that spent their time at war skimming down the muddy canals and shallow rivers of Vietnam.
The Swift Boats were 50 feet long, had six-man crews, and were equipped with radar, .50-caliber machine guns, and 81 mm mortars. First ordered to Vietnam in April 1965, there were 84 Swift Boats on patrol with Task Force 115 supporting Operation Market Time by November 1966. The other major Brown Water Navy mission was Operation Game Warden, in which the Brown Water Navy helped stop North Vietnamese troops, supplies, and communications in South Vietnam. While covering 1,500 miles of Mekong Delta waterways, those sailors faced naval mines and ambushes often less than 50 feet away. In total, an estimated 400 Brown Water sailors were wounded and 50 were killed.
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