[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]For all who enjoy military history or those who lived through it or those whose parents did, this is a fascinating read about The River Rats and the Mike Boats they plied up and down the Mekong River of Vietnam.[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]I have no idea if the author is still around as his link doesn't work. I've been on them and this brought back lots and lots of memories. The Army also operated tug boats that pushed refrigerated and plain barges on the Mekong and it took just as much guts to operate them as the crews on the Mike Boats. [/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And yes, the navy was there with its Swift Boats, something we were always thrilled to see. (And the navy had awesome mess halls we sometime got to use. You might also check out Mekong Ambush on Amazon.com.[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Read this @ http://grambo.us/atav/hartman.htm [/FONT]
I was aboard a Mike Boat a few times. Don't remember if it was a LCM-6 or a LCM-8's ? But do remember that they had two 12V-71 Detroit two stroke diesel engines. Two stroke not politically correct today but you had a power stroke every second stroke of the piston. The "71" represents the cubic inch displacement of each cylinder.
Check out Mekong Ambush @ http://www.amazon.com/Mekong-Ambush-Dale-Day-ebook/dp/B004W84ABQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
"The stench from rice paddies filled with human waste overpowers the nostrils." Yeah, that pretty much describes what Vietnam smelled like.
The LCM-6 had the twin diesels and the LCM-8 had two twin diesels. The 8s were more rare in the Vietnam War so it would make sense your experience would have been on the 6. That's why I responded as I did. You weren't sure if it was the 6 or 8, so I mentioned the 8 had four diesels engines (assembled as two twins) meaning you were on the 6 if it had just the twin diesels.
I'm thinking that those LCM's might have been inline 71 Detroit diesels. It might have been PBR's that had Detroit V-6's. Anyways those Detroit diesels were manufactured having just one cylinder (1-71) 2-71, 3-71, 4-71 and the 6-71. Then you can butt up two 6-71's and you have a 12-71. The V-71's came in either 6-V 71, 8-V 71, 12-V 71, 16-V 71 and the big one the 24-V 71. The M-4 A2 Sherman tank had two Detroit 6-71 engines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_Sherman#U.S._production_history
LCM-6 "Mike Boat" Engines: 2 Detroit Diesel 6-71, twin shafts, 348 hp or 2 Detroit Diesel 8-71 of 460 hp. http://www.warboats.org/lcm-6.htm The 6-71 is a six cylinder engine, and is "inline."
I was TAD a number of times with BLT 1-26 and BLT 2-26. Today a Battalion Landing Team is called a MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) The BLT was made up of one rifle battalion, a battery of 105 mm howitzers (six tubes) and a platoon of five M-48 tanks and a platoon of five ONTOS. The grunts usually went ashore in CH-46 helicopters while the artillery, tanks, ONTOS and other vehicles and support units came ashore in LCM's. The M-48 tanks had to been on LCM-8's because I doubt a LCM-6 couldn't handle the weight of a M-48. An ONTOS could be carried aboard a LCM-6.
Just read that the LCM-8s had two 12V71 diesel engines, so perhaps you were on the 8 and not the inline 6 used on the LCM-6.
In Vietnam I only participated in two amphibious operations, Bold Pursuit and Defiance Stand and I was attached to a rifle company and we went ashore by CH-46's. The only time I was on any Mike Boats was during amphibious training exercises at Camp Pendleton. The Navy still had LCVP's back then but I only seen them used a couple of times at Coronado Island Naval Amphibious Base and once in British Columbia when the Canadian Army was practicing invading the Soviet Union.
The Marines originally existed: to take land from the sea. It would make sense to train with landing craft.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]For those interested, here are a couple of informative links[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]1099[SUP][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]th[/FONT][/SUP][FONT=Times New Roman, serif] [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Transportation Company (Medium Boat) [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]@ http://www.transportation.army.mil/history/documents/1099th Trans Co.pdf[/FONT][/FONT] [h=2][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]My Catlai Vacation @ http://www.mycatlaivacation.com/index3.html[/FONT][/h]
