Underwater mines during the Vietnam war

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

One of my friends is a Vietnam veteran, and he was in the U.S. Navy. He was on a six man boat. One day he got into a fight with an officer or got drunk on the ship, and he was moved to a different ship. But his old ship was destroyed by an underwater mine, or some sort of a sea mine, I don’t know exactly what type of mine it was. His whole previous crew died.

My question is during the Vietnam war. how many US ships had mine prevention methods. ? I would’ve thought that US ships would have some sort of a device some distance in front of the ship that can detect mines or they can take the explosion of the mine?

What type of mines were the North Vietnamese and Vietcong using?

 

[JGalt]

One of my friends is a Vietnam veteran, and he was in the U.S. Navy. He was on a six man boat. One day he got into a fight with an officer or got drunk on the ship, and he was moved to a different ship. But his old ship was destroyed by an underwater mine, or some sort of a sea mine, I don’t know exactly what type of mine it was. His whole previous crew died.

My question is during the Vietnam war. how many US ships had mine prevention methods. ? I would’ve thought that US ships would have some sort of a device some distance in front of the ship that can detect mines or they can take the explosion of the mine?

What type of mines were the North Vietnamese and Vietcong using?

Mine Warfare in South Vietnam

Or they could have been some of our own mines...

Operation Pocket Money - Wikipedia

Operation End Sweep - Wikipedia

 

[jbrownson0831]

One of my friends is a Vietnam veteran, and he was in the U.S. Navy. He was on a six man boat. One day he got into a fight with an officer or got drunk on the ship, and he was moved to a different ship. But his old ship was destroyed by an underwater mine, or some sort of a sea mine, I don’t know exactly what type of mine it was. His whole previous crew died.

My question is during the Vietnam war. how many US ships had mine prevention methods. ? I would’ve thought that US ships would have some sort of a device some distance in front of the ship that can detect mines or they can take the explosion of the mine?

What type of mines were the North Vietnamese and Vietcong using?

I know we used wooden hulled minesweepers during my time in the Navy.

 

[whitehall]

That's what the Seals were trained to do. The Seal program is an evolution of the UDT (underwater demolition team)). Unfortunately with modern technology the Seal mission became redundant but they still train for hypothermia.

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

YFU 62

This was the boat that my friend was on during the Vietnam war. He’s a real cool guy he’s 76 years old. He was also a state trooper for about 20 years in addition to a service in Vietnam. Two of my other friends, one recently passed away, are also Vietnam veterans.

Here’s a picture of the boat I’m talking

And I’m not sure if I’m using the proper terminology if it’s a boat or ship or what the terminology is

That’s a really interesting design.

Im having a tough time finding more pictures of that type of boat if anybody can posted please do so. But look at that boat. What kind of a mine detector could be placed in front of it?

 

[Mushroom]

One of my friends is a Vietnam veteran, and he was in the U.S. Navy. He was on a six man boat.

That would be a 57' Mine Sweeping Boat, specifically MSB-57.

That was the only ship the US lost to a mine in Vietnam, and it was on 15 February 1967 to a command detonated mine. And if it had a crew of 6, that had to be the ship. The YFU (Harbor Utility Craft) had a crew of 12, 11 sailors and 1 CPO.

But here is the MSB-49, a sister ship to the MSB-57.

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

That would be a 57' Mine Sweeping Boat, specifically MSB-57.

That was the only ship the US lost to a mine in Vietnam, and it was on 15 February 1967 to a command detonated mine. And if it had a crew of 6, that had to be the ship. The YFU (Harbor Utility Craft) had a crew of 12, 11 sailors and 1 CPO.

But here is the MSB-49, a sister ship to the MSB-57.

I’m gonna bring this up with my friend and see what he has to say in response.

Are you saying that during the Vietnam war there was ever only one land mine that was able to successfully penetrate a US ship?

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

That would be a 57' Mine Sweeping Boat, specifically MSB-57.

That was the only ship the US lost to a mine in Vietnam, and it was on 15 February 1967 to a command detonated mine. And if it had a crew of 6, that had to be the ship. The YFU (Harbor Utility Craft) had a crew of 12, 11 sailors and 1 CPO.

But here is the MSB-49, a sister ship to the MSB-57.

I just got off the phone with my friend Tom. He was saying that his former boat was hit by a water mine in 1969. And he thinks that he might’ve actually had a crew of about nine or 10 people on the boat .. he was not on the boat. This was his former crew.

He had a 20 mm gun on the boat and he said it was the yfu 62



Unfortunately, I was also thinking about a few things so I didn’t retain all of the information he gave me on the phone including more details on various weapons on the ship and other things like sleeping quarters ….not that it matters, he was very lucky to not be on that ship. All because he got drunk and punched his office or in the face.

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

The yhu 62 the north Vietnamese sunk is actually still in the water today. You can look it up on Google. There’s a picture of it and it is still in some river in Vietnam.

The north Vietnamese would use civilians to attack US ships in the rivers. I already forgot the method of how it was done. There was a string involved, or some sort of a thing was involved, and these Vietnamese civilians will be using camouflage so they will be hard to spot off side of the river.

I don’t know if that’s a matter of the Vietnamese using that as a prize or maybe they just don’t have the ability to get it out of the water?

 

[DudleySmith]

Landing Craft Tank Photo Index

The hulk of YFU-62 after being destroyed by a command detonated mine enemy mine on the Cua Viet River just east of Dong Ha, South Vietnam in January 1969 with the loss of 8 US Navy personnel. Photo taken in August 1969 from YFU-79.

... and several more at the link. part of the 'brown water Navy' there.

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

Landing Craft Tank Photo Index

The hulk of YFU-62 after being destroyed by a command detonated mine enemy mine on the Cua Viet River just east of Dong Ha, South Vietnam in January 1969 with the loss of 8 US Navy personnel. Photo taken in August 1969 from YFU-79.

... and several more at the link. part of the 'brown water Navy' there.

That’s probably the one that’s his ship

Thanks Dudley I really appreciate you taking the time and effort to bring this one up

Tom was telling me that he understood that as soon as the water mine hit the ship all of the men on the ship snapped their necks and died a pretty quick death

 

[DudleySmith]

That’s probably the one that’s his ship

Thanks Dudley I really appreciate you taking the time and effort to bring this one up

Tom was telling me that he understood that as soon as the water mine hit the ship all of the men on the ship snapped their necks and died a pretty quick death

You led to it when you brought up 'yfu 62'. I just did a quick search and the Navy site popped up near the top. Took typing 'yfu 62'and all of 1-2 minutes.

 

[whitehall]

In retrospect the SEAL mission in Vietnam seems relatively non existent. What happened?

 

[AZrailwhale]

YFU 62

This was the boat that my friend was on during the Vietnam war. He’s a real cool guy he’s 76 years old. He was also a state trooper for about 20 years in addition to a service in Vietnam. Two of my other friends, one recently passed away, are also Vietnam veterans.

Here’s a picture of the boat I’m talking

And I’m not sure if I’m using the proper terminology if it’s a boat or ship or what the terminology is

View attachment 800182

View attachment 800183

That’s a really interesting design.

Im having a tough time finding more pictures of that type of boat if anybody can posted please do so. But look at that boat. What kind of a mine detector could be placed in front of it?

That looks like an LCU (Landing Craft Utility)