CHAPTER 13
The SLF of the Seventh Fleet
Disbandment of
the SLF-A New Mission-The Reestablishment of the SLF-Command and Control
Changes-The First DAGGER THRUST Raids-Further Changes in the SLF-The Saigon
Conference-The Second Series of DAGGER THRUST Raids-The SLF at the End of the
Year
Disbandment of the
SLF
The landing of the 9th MEB and the
deployment of reinforcing Marine units to Vietnam during the spring of 1965
seriously depleted the Marine forces with the Seventh Fleet. Lieutenant Colonel
Edmund G. Derning's BLT 2/9 which had become the Seventh Fleet Special Landing
Force (SLF) battalion in late February, was tasked as the floating reserve for
the Da Nang landing of 8 March. Derning's attached shore party and the landing
craft from the attack transport USS Bexar (APA 237) and the landing ship dock
USS Thomaston (LSD 28) assisted in landing the brigade's supplies and men. In
addition, the pilots of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Koler, Jr.'s HMM-365, the SLF
helicopter squadron on board the amphibious assault ship USS Princeton (LPH 5),
flew their aircraft from the ship to the Da Nang Airbase. There the 23 UH-34s
were turned over to HMM-162 whose personnel arrived by KC-130from Okinawa. After
Koler's pilots returned to the Princeton, the ship sailed for Okinawa to take on
replacement aircraft. The other ships of the amphibious ready group (ARG)
carrying the SLF, Thomaston and Bexar, recovered their landing craft and
reembarked the BLT's shore party on 12 March and steamed northward to rendezvous
with the Princeton.
After a seven-day port call at Hong
Kong, the force returned to Subic Bay for refurbishing of equipment and for
training. In mid-April, the SLF was once more off the coast of Vietnam, covering
the landings of BLTs 2/3 and 3/4. The group then sailed for Okinawa where both
HMM-263 and BLT 2/9 disembarked. At this point, the Seventh Fleet and FMFPac
dissolved the SLF, because its amphibious shipping was required for the landing
of the 3d Marine Amphibious Brigade at Chu Lai.
The senior Marine and Navy Pacific
commanders recognized that the disbandment of the SLF was a temporary measure.
During a visit to Vietnam and Okinawa in May, Lieutenant General Krulak, the
FMFPac commander, met with Vice Admiral Paul P. Blackburn, Commander Seventh
Fleet; the two agreed that the SLF should be reconstituted when additional
amphibious shipping became available. Krulak suggested that this should take
place when the first elements of the 7th Marines arrived on Okinawa from
California.1
A New Mission
Throughout the spring, American
commanders in the Pacific discussed the possibility of employing the Seventh
Fleet's SLF in a series of amphibious raids on VC/NVA infiltration and
marshalling points along the coast of South Vietnam. On 14 March,
representatives from MACV and the Pacific Fleet reached an agreement in Saigon
for a naval coastal surveillance campaign. Operation MARKET TIME. The agreement
contained provisions for carrying out amphibious raids using South Vietnamese
Marines, U.S. Marine battalions, or combined South Vietnamese and U.S. Marine
forces. The MACV and CinCPacFleet staffs were to evaluate available intelligence
and agree on suitable target areas for these raids. The first targets were to be
in unpopulated areas, which would allow the amphibious forces relative freedom
of action. After the two commands had agreed on suitable target areas, the
CinCPacFleet staff was to prepare a concept of operations from which the
amphibious commander was to make his detailed plans. Completed plans were then
to be submitted to ComUSMACV for his concurrence and for South Vietnamese
clearance for the raids.2
Both General Westmoreland and Admiral
Johnson ratified the results of the Saigon conference. m their transmittal of
the agreement to Admiral
