Operation Market Time
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Following the Tonkin Gulf Incident US Naval forces in Vietnam were assigned to four major duties - Operation Sea Dragon, Operation Market Time, Operation Sealords and Naval Gunfire Support. When a trawler was intercepted landing arms and ammunition at Vung Ro Bay in northern Khanh Hoa province on 16 February 1965 it provided the first tangible evidence of what had been suspected for some time, that large quantities of arms and supplies were being brought into South Vietnam by sea. US Navy destroyers were assigned to coastal surveillance operations and Operation Market Time, a coastal barrier patrol initiated to prevent the infiltration of men and supplies from Communist North Vietnam, commenced. To complement Market Time in coastal waters a riverine force of light patrol boats carrying machine guns and 105 mm howitzer armed monitors was established to conduct Operation Sea Lords. Their objective was to suppress Viet Cong use of the maze of rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta region, to attack enemy positions accessible by water and to patrol the rivers along the Cambodian border as far as Tay Ninh province.