Cam Ranh Bay

Vietnam War: Cam Ranh Bay Ships & Port Facilities, February 1966 US Army

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more at http://news.quickfound.net/intl/vietnam_news.html An overview of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam ships and facilities begins with the Lt. Col. John U. D. Page, the first and only Beach Discharge Lighter ( BDL ). Also describes US Army tugboats, the DeLong Pier and the floating machine shop. From US Army Staff Film Report 66-10B. Vietnam War playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF7FC7A2D880623F7 Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_Ranh_Bay Cam Ranh Bay (Vietnamese: Vịnh Cam Ranh) is a deep-water bay in Vietnam in the province of Khánh Hòa. It is located at an inlet of the South China Sea situated on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, between Phan Rang and Nha Trang, approximately 290 kilometers (180 miles) northeast of Hồ Chí Minh City (former Saigon). Cam Ranh is considered the finest deepwater shelter in Southeast Asia. The continental shelf of Southeast Asia is relatively narrow at Cam Ranh Bay, bringing deep water close to land. Cam Ranh Bay is now the site of a Russian naval base which is falling into disuse... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_U._D._Page John Upshur Dennis Page (February 8, 1904 -- December 11, 1950) was an United States Army officer from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Lieutenant Colonel Page received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War... http://grambo.us/myers/page.htm ( BDL-1X Lt. Col. John U. D. Page ) Length: 338'-0" Displacement: 2,000 tons Crew: 38 in peacetime, we ran with about 50 [ SEE PHOTOS ON WEB PAGE http://grambo.us/myers/page.htm ] On the beach at Phan Rang The ship was beached and retracted under its own power. Upon landing, the engine room would flood the forward ballast tanks with sea water. As I recall, tank #1 centerline held about 100,000 gallons and the port and starboard tanks held somewhat less. To get underway, the engine room would transfer the ballast from 1 centerline, port and starboard to the corresponding stern ballast tanks, labeled #7 port, centerline and starboard. Once off the beach, the skipper would call for trim as needed. The ship was also fitted with a retraction ram- a giant marshmallow-shaped steel pod attached to a hydraulic cylinder located under the beaching ramp. This was one of those Larry Lightbulb experiments which did not work in the real world. Instead of pushing the ship off the beach, the pod would simply bury itself in the sand. Ports we visited during my two years aboard: from north to south: Da Nang, Chu Lai, Duc Pho, Qui Nhon, Tuy Hoa, Vung Ro, Nha Trang, Cam Ranh (home), Phan Rang, Phan Thiet, and Vung Tau. Propulsion System: The ship was powered by two Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D-8-1/8 opposed piston engines. The 8-1/8 in the model designation denotes the diameter of the cylinder bore in inches. Each engine had two pistons and two crankshafts. The pistons met in the middle where the diesel fuel was injected into the cylinders. These six cylinder engines developed 1,200 horsepower each at 850 rpm. An oil change required 190 gallons of HDO-30. The power output of the two main engines was sent through shaft alleys to the prop room where it was fed to two vertical axis propellers. These propellers each had five blades which were constantly adjusted hydraulically to direct their thrust in any direction needed. The original prop units were replaced in 1968 with new models which allowed the bridge to control the pitch as well as the direction of the thrust. In addition to the main engines described above, the engine room also held three 175KW generators, each powered by Caterpillar D-375 V-8 engines. In conjunction with the John Page, the Army developed two roll-on, roll-off freighters, the Comet and the Sea Lift. These ships had stern ramps which were designed to be lowered onto the deck of the Page. The two ships were held together during ro-ro operations by cables connected to two hydraulic cylinders on either side of the stern... In Vietnam, the cargo we carried ranged from ammunition, including bombs and napalm for the Air Force, all varieties of wheeled and tracked vehicles, (we once moved a duster unit from Chu Lai to Phan Thiet), lumber, nonperishable food, barrels of oil, and the all-encompassing "general cargo." More than anything else we carried munitions from the deepwater port of Cam Ranh Bay to beaches up and down the coast...