USN NSA Saigon Electronic Warfare fatigue shirt
1967 dated (14 ½ x33) OG107 fatigue shirt with theater made US NAVY and name tapes and a GREAT in-country made Naval Support Activity SAIGON patch sewn on the sleeve.
$95.00
History follows images…


U.S. Naval Forces Vietnam and NSA, Saigon

In August 1950, eight officers and men arrived in Saigon to staff the Navy section of the newly created Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), Indochina.  The Navy section’s job was to administer American military aid given to the French in their fight against the communist-led Viet Minh insurgency.  Between 1950 and 1954, hundreds of ships and craft, including the light carrier USS BELLEAU WOOD (CVL-24), amphibious ships and craft, riverine craft, yard craft, barges, and floating cranes were provided to the French Expeditionary Forces in its unsuccessful fight against the Viet Minh forces.

By the end of 1961, the 63-man naval advisory team had created a 4,500-man Vietnamese Navy with 119 ships, landing craft, and boats.  There was also a paramilitary junk force for coastal patrol.  The advisors also provided assistance to the Saigon Naval Shipyard, the largest facility of its kind in Southeast Asia.

In December 1963, the Vietnam conflict entered a more critical phase after the fall of President Diem.  Additional American forces were required to stem the increased communist tide.  American leaders established the Military Assistance Advisory Command, Vietnam, in May 1964.  MACV replaced MAAG and the former MAAG personnel were absorbed by MACV.  The old Navy section of MAAG became the Naval Advisory Group, Vietnam, and by the end of 1964 there were 235 naval personnel in the 4,900-man MACV command to attend to the needs of the growing Vietnamese Navy.  

The influx of large American and allied combat forces into Vietnam from 1965 to 1968 caused the naval establishment in Saigon to undergo dramatic expansion.  In early 1965, a headquarters and operations center was established at the NAG for the Commander, Coastal Surveillance Force.  These activities became part of Task Force 115 and were named Operation MARKET TIME.  MARKET TIME units did country-wide air and sea patrols of the Vietnamese coastline to prevent North Vietnamese smuggling of arms and supplies to communist units fighting in South Vietnam.  Squadrons of SP-2 Neptune maritime aircraft flew from Tan Son Nhut airfield in support of MARKET TIME activities.  Helicopter Combat Support Squadron ONE detachments operated from the Tan Son Nhut facility.  MARKET TIME activities were subsequently moved to Cam Ranh Bay.

Operations to prevent the mining of the Long Tau shipping channel became a high priority.  The Long Tau was the main shipping channel that all supplies had to transit to reach the port of Saigon from the South China Sea.  The first minesweeping units were converted landing craft operating from Saigon Naval Shipyard.  Later, dedicated units from Mine Squadron 11 operated from Nha Be.  On 18 December 1965, the headquarters for the River Patrol Force, Task Force 116, code name Operation GAME WARDEN were initially established in Saigon.  The River Patrol Force headquarters were subsequently moved to Can Tho.  Operation GAME WARDEN patrols sought to interdict communist arms and supplies on the inland rivers and canals of Vietnam.

NSA Saigon had assigned or operational control of many vessels including dedicated fleet repair and maintenance ships, amphibious ships and craft, and a great variety of barges for berthing, messing, fuel and water supply, and repair.  NSA Saigon also ran an air transportation service, called “Air Cofat” that operated various helicopters and fixed-wing transport aircraft.

On 30 April 1972, the Commander, Naval Construction Battalions closed down and the staff relocated to the United States.  In June 1972, the NSA Saigon turned over its assets and responsibilities to the Vietnamese and was disestablished.  The Naval Support Facility at Newport carried out a similar transfer.  The ComNavForV headquarters turned over its responsibilities to the Vietnamese on 29 April 1973, and brought an end to the combat phase of U.S. Navy activities in Vietnam.  After March 1973, the only naval personnel remaining in Vietnam belonged to the naval section of the Defense Attaché Office of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.  For the next two years, this section oversaw the dwindling U.S. military assistance to South Vietnam.  By April 1975 all U.S. personnel were withdrawn from South Vietnam shortly before the country fell to the communist invaders from North Vietnam.  The Navy’s 25 year experience in Vietnam had come to an end.