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12 JUL 1965

A day dawned like so many of the day's before. Hot and humid, with the sun reflecting off the water's of the South China Sea. A day like so many before on Patrol off South Vietnam. Our duties mainly were pulling over the Junk's, Sampans and Fishing boat's to search for enemy supplies headed for the VC.

The USS Prime (MSO-466) had been on station going on about four months at this time. Doing our duty, little did we know that the next 12 to 14 hour's were going bring so much change. Someone, somewhere decided we had earned a break from our routine duties. So liberty was called for. Maybe as a reward or to help the crews moral. Liberty was granted for about half of the ships crew.

Vung Tau was going to be the Port of Call. Liberty parties were split into about 3 to 4 shift's of about 8 to 10 men each. Each crew was allowed 4 hours to explore the best that Vung Tau had to offer. The only way that we had to get to Vung Tau, was to shuttle them by our 26 foot motorwhale boat. As one of the ships coxswain's and not being one of the luck ones not to draw liberty. I was assigned along with Ed Vantine as Bowhook and John Crowell the engineman to he boat crew. We were o shuttle the liberty parties to the pier in Vung Tau.

To get to the pier in the harbor from where the USS Prime was stationed, we had to go around the breakwall that protected the harbor. The breakwall was made up of mostly of broken slabs of concrete and boulders. It ran about 250 to 300 yards in length and shaped like a crescent, as I recall.

At the start of the liberty parties into Vung Tau. the sea's were calm a light breeze with cloudless skies and bright sunshine were our weather conditions. During the early part of the day things seemed very normal. Shuttling the liberty parties into Vung Tau for their four hours of fun, then returning them to the ship.

After returning the first two crews, weather conditions began to change. Winds were picking up, clouds started to roll in and the sea was getting choppy, swells running about 2 - 4 feet. Things they were a changing!

On retuning to Vung Tau to pick up the last liberty party, I was ready to call it a day. Seeing the results of four hours the liberty offered my shipmates. I envied the fact that a few drinks could afford the change in their mental outlook.

On board I recall that the liberty party retuning on that last run were: LTjg Fred Golden, BM2 James Smallwood, GMG3 Robert Robinson, ST3 John Crowley. After 37 years I do not recall the names of the remaining party members. But soon their faces would be etched in my memory forever.

With all parties aboard the whale boat we cast off from the pier and headed back to the USS Prime retuning the last of the liberty parties to our ship. As we cleared the end of the breakwall and made it into open waters we had to run parallel to the breakwall about half the way down (about 50 yards) then make a 90 degree turn to approach the ship.

After making the turn and about 150-170 yards from the breakwall and about 400-500yards from our ship the motorwhale boats engine started running rough and stalled out. At this time all eyes turned and looked at me at the boats rudder. (You never could believe how fast these sailors sobered up when they realized our situation).

We were powerless to prevent what was about to happen. With the wind and seas pushing us toward the break wall. Lt Golden and Smallwood broke out the oars and tried to row back to the ship. But the winds and seas were to strong for this futile attempt. We tried signaling the ship but they were not in position to offer any help. Also we spotted a S.V.N Pilot boat and yelled, whistled and waved but either they didn't see or hear us and continued into port.

Winds and sea swells were driving our powerless motorwhale boat closer and closer to the breakwall, and we had no control of our fate.

As we neared the breakwall the whale boat was merely but a bobber being swept by the wind and waves, with no way out of this predicament. When we first started hitting the breakwall we tried to hold off smashing against the breakwall using the oars and having Smallwood and Vantine climbing onto the breakwall with fore and aft lines. Hoping for time to get all hands out of the whaleboat and onto the breakwall.

During the scramble out of the whaleboat Gunner's mate Robinson lost a shoe while exiting. Outside of minor cuts and scratches everyone got out in good shape. Save Robinsons shoe of course. As the motorwhale boat was being battered against the breakwall I grabbed the battle lantern and jumped out. The last one leaving a sinking boat.

Within minutes the whaleboat was smashed to pieces and sank. Wet cut up and scratched the liberty party and boat crew climbed over the breakwall to get out of the wind and sea spry. We remained on the breakwall until the S.V.N. pilot boat picked us up and returned us to the USS Prime.

Weeks later after the court of inquiry cleared everyone of any wrong doing we sailed to Subic Bay, P. I. to pick up a new motor whale boat. Then retuned to our duty station in the South China Sea for the remainder of our tour.

This account is as close in detail that 37 years will allow. The past years I've often wondered if this was the first U. S. Navy craft lost in the Vietnam war? Also I hope that under other conditions what this event meant to the other shipmates involved had we not lost our motorwhale boat.

Yours,

William Dennis Gramer AKA "SHORTY'

DECK LOG 11 JUL 65 - 13 JUL 65