The discovery of an old cruise book rekindles fond memories of a veteran Coast Guard cutter's Vietnam deployment
Since writing two earlier articles on AVP's - "Whatever Became of the Coast Guard's Casco-class Cutters" in May 2002 and "Whatever Became of Those AVPs?" in February 2003 - I have received numerous communications from fellow AVP sailors. Most recently, I was honored to receive a copy of the USCGC Half Moon's (WHEC-378) 1967 cruise book documenting the ship's deployment to Vietnam during 1967. It came from one of the ship's former crew members, David Lockwood, via his brother John Lockwood, also an AVP sailor on the USCGC Rockaway. What a wonderful time capsule!
In reading it, I was so impressed with its contents that I was inspired to write this article and share some of the story. An interview with the former Lt. Bill Barry, USCG, engineering officer on the Half Moon during 1967, provided me with some additional first-person insights into the Half Moon experience. Bill also happened to be my classmate at the US Coast Guard Academy, and is affectionately referred to as "Bos'n Bill" by the class of 1961.
The story starts in early 1967, when decisions were made to form a Coast Guard squadron to carry out a coastal surveillance mission in waters off the coast of South Vietnam. Although the Coast Guard had already started a building program to modernize its High Endurance Cutter fleet, the current work-horses of the time were still the venerable AVP class of cutters. The 311's, affectionately known as the "White Elephants" by many of their CG crews, had already served two lives of active service: First as sea plane tenders (AVPs) for the Navy during WWII, and next as weather ships (WAVPs) for the USCG from the late 1940s through the late 60s. The High Endurance Cutters WHEC (designation changed in 1966) were called upon to assume a third role during the Vietnam conflict where they would carry out the assignment of coastal surveillance/interdiction, in-shore gunfire support, and
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