Brown-water navy

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:US riverboat using napalm in Vietnam.jpg Brown-water navy is a naval term. The word originated in the United States Navy, where it referred to the small gunboats and patrol boats used in rivers. A more broad meaning is any naval force that has the capacity to carry out military operations in river or littoral environments.

The term is used in contrast to the term "blue-water navy."

History

River gunboats in the interwar period and PT boats during World War II were the forerunners of the brown-water navy concept. The littoral combat ship may have been brown-water capable, and Naval War College wargames showed the effectiveness of the idea.

The brown-water navy patrolled inland waterways and close coastal waters during the Vietnam War. The brown-water navy was a joint venture between the Navy and Army modeled after the earlier French Riverine and coastal patrols in the First Indochina War. In Vietnam, control of the waterways was essential to controlling the country because of the nation's many rivers and lengthy coastline. The largest of these waterways was the Mekong Delta. Brown-water navy units included PBRs (patrol boats, rigid), PACVs (Patrol Air Cushion Vehicles) the Mobile Riverine Force, the Yard Repair Berthing and Messings, advance bases, LSTs LST,helicopter and seawolf units, and Naval Support Activity.

The brown-water navy was largely successful in its tactics to combat infiltration and weapons smuggling during its existence between 1966 and 1970. The units were formalized in January of 1967 with the 2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division arriving under the command of Major General William Fulton. Later that same year, in combination with the Navy Task Force 117 they formed the Mobile Riverine Force. In 1970, the last of the brown-water navy units were turned over to the South Vietnamese as part of the overall Vietnamization process.