TO BE TRANSFERRED FROM ACTIVE SERVICE
The last two operational Vietnam-era U.S. Navy swift patrol boats will be
transferred from active service in a ceremony at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 17,
1995, at the Washington Navy Yard. One of the boats will be donated to the
Navy Museum for permanent display, while the other boat will be transferred to
the Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, Virginia, to be used as a research
vessel.
Former Vietnam swift patrol boat commanders Senator John Kerry of
Massachusetts and Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona, as well as former Chief
of Naval Operations and former Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Vietnam, retired
Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr., will attend the ceremony. Many other swift boat
veterans are also expected to attend.
Senator Kerry will be the ceremony's principal speaker.
At 51 feet in length and a draft of only four feet, swift patrol boats
operated in the shallow, confined waterways of southeast Asia during the
Vietnam conflict, delivering and extracting combat forces in hostile areas. A
recent Congressional bill authorized the preservation and public display of the
two remaining boats, one in Washington, and the other in Norfolk, Virginia.
The ceremony will be open to the public. On Friday, June 16, 1995, media are
invited to embark the boats at the Washington Navy Yard for a short transit on
the Anacostia River. For further information, contact LT Karl Johnson, Naval
District Washington Public Affairs, at (202) 433-2218.
