Cam Ranh Bay DeLong Piers: Research and Development Progress Report 9 1967 US Army; Vietnam War

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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS REPORT NUMBER NINE - DELONG PIERS

THIS IS THE STORY OF THE CONSTRUCTION AND INSTALLATION OF DELONG PIERS TO RELIEVE THE LOGISTICAL PROBLEM IN VIETNAM. IN THE FALL OF 1965, THE PIER WAS OPERATIONAL AND CARGO DISCHARGE ACTIVITIES AT CAM RANH BAY WERE MARKEDLY INCREASED. SUBSEQUENTLY, CONSTRUCTION OF ADDITIONAL DELONG PIERS WAS CONTRACTED TO A JAPANESE SHIPBUILDING COMPANY. AS OF JANUARY 1967, A TOTAL OF 10 DELONG PIERS ARE OPERATIONAL IN VARIOUS PARTS OF VIETNAM AND IN THAILAND, ALLOWING FOR THE DISCHARGE OF APPROXIMATELY 60,000 TONS OF CARGO PER DAY.

Originally a public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & 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).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_Ranh_Bay

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Cam Ranh Bay (Vietnamese: Vịnh Cam Ranh) is a deep-water bay in Vietnam in Khánh Hòa Province. 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 Ho Chi Minh City (formerly 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.

Since 2011-2014, Vietnamese authorities have hired Russian consultants and purchased Russian technologies to re-open Cam Ranh Bay (a former United States and later Soviet military base) as the site of a new naval maintenance and logistics facility for foreign warships...

In 1963, Admiral Harry D. Felt, the U.S. Commander in Chief, Pacific (CINCPAC) foresaw that pier facilities at the natural deep-water bay at Cam Ranh might be useful in the future. At the direction of the Navy's Officer in Charge of Construction RVN (OICC RVN), the American construction consortium RMK was directed to begin construction of a 350-foot (110 m) long pier and causeway. This project was completed in mid-1964.

In mid-1965, military engineers of the U.S. Army 35th Engineer Construction Group debarked at Cam Ranh Bay via LST's to set up camp and start building roads for the Cam Ranh Base...

Also in mid-1965, the American construction consortium RMK-BRJ and engineers of the Navy Officer in Charge of Construction RVN returned to construct a new airfield starting with a temporary 10,000-foot (3,000 m) runway with 2.2 million square feet (200,000 square meters) of AM-2 aluminum matting to accommodate jet fighter-bombers. By September, they had employed 1,800 Vietnamese workers for the work, over half of whom were women. The Army engineers and the civilian constructors shared equipment and expertise. The runway was completed in 50 days, with Admiral U.S.G. Sharp, CINCPAC, laying the last AM-2 plank on 16 October 1965. A 1.3 million square feet (120,000 square meters) cargo apron using pierced steel planking, airport facilities and utilities, mess halls, and 25,000 square feet (2,300 square meters) of living quarters were also prepared for use by the U.S. Air Force.

In 1966, four DeLong piers were added to the port. In January 1966, the OICC RVN tasked RMK-BRJ with construction of the Army Ammunition and Logistic Support Facility, consisting of thirty 40-foot (12 m) by 220-foot (67 m) concrete slabs for warehouses and six 140-foot (43 m) by 220-foot (67 m) slabs, 122 ammunition hardstands, and 10 miles (16 km) of roads. This work was completed by June 1966, and then RMK-BRJ turned to construction of a new 10,000-foot (3,000 m) concrete runway and taxiway at the air base. Later in 1966, RMK-BRJ filled in swamp land with sand at the southern end of the peninsula and constructed a naval base for Operation Market Time coastal patrols.

On 1 January 1966, the 20th and 39th Engineer Battalions and the 572nd Light Equipment Company arrived at Cam Ranh Bay to construct another pier at the port, and added a DeLong pier to the causeway at the ammunition depot...