"The Day North Vietnamese Commandos Sank a U.S. Aircraft" Topic

…Carrier

"Here's What You Need to Remember: The aftermath of the attack on the Card rallied American rescue and salvage crews to deal with a severe crisis. The American brass and Pres. Lyndon Johnson wanted to keep the results of the attack as quiet as possible.

It was shortly after midnight when two Viet Cong commandos emerged from a sewer tunnel that emptied into Saigon Port, each man carrying nearly 90 pounds of high explosives and the components needed to make two time bombs.

Their target was the largest American ship in port, USNS Card. An escort carrier that saw distinguished service as a submarine-hunter in the North Atlantic during World War II, during the early morning hours of May 2, 1964, Card was part of U.S. Military Sealift Command…"
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Armand

She was an ex aircraft carrier (escort carrier strictly) and was being used as a ferry (like the USS Langley sunk by the Japanese). Sunk in 50 feet of water? That is one deep harbour, if so, and I think raising her would have been far more challenging at that depth.

What did amuse me was the contrast between the heading picture of a super carrier and the reality of the USS Card.

Again … whoever wrote this wanted a narrative to fit a story … whether it is true or not. This happens very often today in the media, etc. No surprise really …

Kinda like when they call any military vehicle painted green a tank.

Thanks!.

Armand

You got that right. Especially with the net today you can look up anything like that and get an accurate picture, facts, stats, etc.

But again I think this author seems to have an agenda, etc. E.g. the USA is bad, etc., etc. for attacking, the peaceful rice paddy farmers of SE Asia, etc. Frakk'm !👎👎👎

The article was written by Robert "Click Bait" Beckhusen who is the Managing Editor of WarIsBoring. He seems to have no military exposure or experience.

His modus operandi seems to be rewriting previously published historical articles with a clickbait title/picture and giving the article a fantastic slant to give the impression you've learned something new when in fact you've wasted your time.

Tango, please DH him and don't let him darken our screens again.

Wolfhag

He seems to have no military exposure or experience.

That seems to be a standard with much of the media, educators, politicos, etc. When they can as easily as you or I go on line to find out the correct photo, etc. But as we often see accuracy is not part their agenda …

Wolf +1 !

But.. what the article said… was true or not?…

I sustain is a good scenario for a Vietnam wargame…

Armand

The story is true.

Very brave NV frogmen indeed planted summat like limpet mines onto an aged Aircraft ferry docked in Saigon and sank it in 20ft of water. Like Pearl Harbour (OK Harbor) it was raised (and with far less effort than Nevada, California, Weevie or poor old capsised Oklahoma) very quickly and served on.

It was like the incredible courage of the Italians in Alexandria. Everyone knows what cowards they were, how hopeless they were, until you realise what they achieved that night…in a shallow harbour again thank God. Unless a battleship turns over, it can only sink so far in port. Thank God.

Of course, it's a true story, all click-bait has some truth or is based on a true story. His article makes the Wikipedia entry look well researched. Of course, the sappers were brave.

My point is that the author is part of a current generation of pseudo-journalists that make their living posting articles that are at best re-writes of historical occurrences using the typical human "freak-factor" curiosity.

"OMG, the Vietnamese sunk a US Navy Super-Carrier", I must click to find out the details".

USNS Card
Named for a sound, continuation of Biscayne Bay, south of Miami, Fla. (I used to sail there)
Built under a Maritime Commission contract (hull number 178) as a merchant vessel, type C3-S-A1.
Acquired by the Navy on 1 May 1942.
Originally classified as an "Aircraft Escort Vessel" and designated AVG-11.
Reclassified as an "Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated ACV-11, 20 August 1942 (prior to commissioning).
Reclassified as an "Escort Carrier" and redesignated CVE-11, 15 July 1943.
Card was the first CVE awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
Reclassified as an "Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated CVHE-11, 12 June 1955, while in reserve.
Reactivated as an aircraft transport in 1958; operated with a civilian crew under Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) control.
Reclassified as a "Utility Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated (T-)CVU-11, 1 July 1958.

Reclassified as a "Cargo Ship and Aircraft Ferry" and redesignated (T-)AKV-40, 7 May 1959.

The aircraft were being assembled during transit. The ship itself was not capable of conducting naval air operations which means while it may carry disassembled aircraft it is not an aircraft carrier in the traditional sense, the article is grossly misleading in that respect and the author purposely wrote it that way to get more clicks on the website. I'm not disparaging the people involved or the incident, the author did not do either justice.

Entered the Reserve Fleet, Beaumont, TX, at 1930 CST on 8 March 1963. Returned to MSTS at 1245 CST on 15 May 1963.

Mined and sunk while moored in Saigon, Vietnam, 2 May 1964; 5 of her crew were killed. Raised 19 May, and returned to service 11 December.

Fate: Entered the Reserve Fleet, Olympia, WA, at 0936 PST on 10 March 1970. Advertised for scrap under PD-X-905, dated 20 April 1971; opened on 11 May 1971. Sold to Zidell Explorations Inc. for $93,899.99 USD, contract No. MA-6332, 14 May 1971. Withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet at 1442 PDT on 9 June 1971.

Here is a picture of the great American super-carrier sunk by the Vietnamese. It appears the stern is sitting on the bottom but the bow is still sitting pretty high. Of course, if this happened in the open ocean it would is at the bottom of the sea.:

Here is another picture of the "sunk" carrier:

Here is an article from 2017 on the "War is Boring" website:
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Look familiar? At least he got the picture right.

Now compare these articles to the Wikipedia article:
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The Wikipedia article also goes into more detail on the VN operations. It is an excellent idea for a scenario if you use the Wikipedia site.

Wolfhag

Yes, it is a true story … but the photo, etc., was inaccurate.

Kinda like when they call any military vehicle painted green a tank.

And all naval vessels are battleships.

Thanks!

Armand

Never seen those images before of the "sunken" carrier. Goes back to my scepticism about sinking in 50 feet of water! That would be one deep berth. Even Pearl Harbour allowed every capital ship to bottom out, when it no longer displaced its own weight of water (even the capsized USS Oklahoma). Hence the salvage.

All German tanks are Tigers. Every Jap fighter is a Zero.

Yep in the media … they in many times are not concerned about getting many of the "facts" right. Because not only does the media don't know the difference e.g. of many AFVs. They don't care … as most reading or seeing the pics in an article don't know anyway.

E.g. Kelly's Heroes[one of my favorite movies!] made in '70-'71. Was the first movie to make 3 Tiger I "vis-mods", as the Army calls them. They took a Russian T-34 tank, "tricked it out" and made it look pretty much just like a Tiger I. Verses most other movies where M47s were Tiger IIs, M48s were used any German Tank by just painting the Balkenkreuz used in WWII. And the list goes on and on. link