Bob Hudson Posted April 3, 2013 #1 Posted April 3, 2013 I've been offered a small group of items which includes this plaque to a US Navy officer, but I cannot find anything about the unit COS ELOT THREE but I assume it is a Vietnamese unit to which he was an adviser. Any ideas? thanks...
irish Posted April 3, 2013 #2 Posted April 3, 2013 Coastal Unit? This boat looks more Sea going than River. If the second acronym was FLOT I would say Coastal Flotilla 3. But ELOT it is a bit tougher.
Patriot12 Posted April 3, 2013 #3 Posted April 3, 2013 As already mentioned not a PBR or a Swift boat.
Bob Hudson Posted April 3, 2013 Author #4 Posted April 3, 2013 In looking at websites related to RVN coastal patrols I come across "Coastal Security Service (CSS)" and "Operations Services" operating coastal patrol craft.
vintageproductions Posted April 3, 2013 #5 Posted April 3, 2013 Coastal Flotilla 3 makes more sense.....
Bob Hudson Posted April 3, 2013 Author #6 Posted April 3, 2013 Coastal Flotilla 3 makes more sense..... That's it - COSFLOT 3 of the VNN. Here's a repro adviser patch: And an enlargment of the boat on the plaque.
firefighter Posted April 3, 2013 #7 Posted April 3, 2013 I'm thinking it's a typo and is suppose to be COS(Coastal) FLOT(Flotilla) 3.The ship has South Vietnam flags and I'm guessing it's this boat, RVNS Lê Ngọc Ẩn (HQ-712) 21 February 1970 USCGC Point Jefferson (WPB-82306) Scrapped.[84
Bob Hudson Posted April 3, 2013 Author #9 Posted April 3, 2013 I'm thinking it's a typo and is suppose to be COS(Coastal) FLOT(Flotilla) 3.The ship has South Vietnam flags and I'm guessing it's this boat, RVNS Lê Ngọc Ẩn (HQ-712) 21 February 1970 USCGC Point Jefferson (WPB-82306) Scrapped.[84 That's it! Hull number 712 and based at Cat Lo which is where various online posters say COSTFLOT 3 was located. This is from that wikipedia link: "At the request of the United States Navy, in October 1965, she was alerted for service in Vietnam and assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One in support of Operation Market Time along with 8 other Point class cutters.[12][13] While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, Point Jefferson was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to Subic Bay, Philippines arriving in January 1966 where she was refit for combat service.[5] Shipyard modifications included installation of new single-sideband radio equipment, additional floodlights, small arms lockers, bunks, additional sound-powered phone circuits, and the addition of 4 M-2 machine guns. The original Oerlikon 20 mm cannon was replaced with a combination over-under 50 caliber machine gun/81mm trigger-fired mortar that had been developed by the Coast Guard for service in Vietnam.[4][5][14][15] For service in Vietnam, two officers were added to the crew complement to add seniority to the crew in the mission of interdicting vessels at sea.... After the crew of Point Jefferson trained a Vietnamese replacement crew, she was turned over to the Republic of Vietnam Navy as a part of the Vietnamization Program and recommissioned as RVNS Lê Ngọc Ẩn (HQ-712), 21 February 1970."
Steve Brannan Posted April 3, 2013 #10 Posted April 3, 2013 This boat was a Coast Guard WPB, 82' long. Was turned over to the South Vietnamese Navy in about 1970. Were used for Coast Patrol in Vietnam. Sometimes they went up the larger rivers. This officer must have been an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy after the boat was turned over.
Bob Hudson Posted April 3, 2013 Author #12 Posted April 3, 2013 Great looking plaque, even with the typo. The far east proofreaders often missed their mark. I have a dish made in Japan in the 1950's for the officer's mess of the "5th Marins"
capa Posted April 3, 2013 #13 Posted April 3, 2013 Who needs History Detectives with you guys around?!
Andrei Posted April 3, 2013 #14 Posted April 3, 2013 I missed this plaque from the same officer last week on eBay !
Bob Hudson Posted April 3, 2013 Author #15 Posted April 3, 2013 I missed this plaque from the same officer last week on eBay ! Do you recall how much it sold for?
RustyCanteen Posted April 4, 2013 #17 Posted April 4, 2013 This boat was a Coast Guard WPB, 82' long. Was turned over to the South Vietnamese Navy in about 1970. Were used for Coast Patrol in Vietnam. Sometimes they went up the larger rivers. This officer must have been an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy after the boat was turned over. Definitely a WPB. One source claims only 26 WPB's were deployed to VN for USCG use, not certain how many (all?) of them were transferred.
Bob Hudson Posted April 5, 2013 Author #18 Posted April 5, 2013 I missed this plaque from the same officer last week on eBay ! I picked up the plaque with the boat today. The woman I bought it from used to be the next door neighbor of the officer named on the plaques./. I don't think she was the one who sold the plaque on ebay. I also got a set of mini medals which she says were also his. It has a Navy Good Conduct Medal so I'm thinking he was an enlisted man who was commissioned. Here's a closeup of the hand-painted boat:
firefighter Posted April 5, 2013 #19 Posted April 5, 2013 Great pick up.The mini medals are also nice.
gwb123 Posted April 5, 2013 #20 Posted April 5, 2013 Some of the plaques and presentation pieces out of Vietnam are kind of tacky... that is a nice one. I like the level of detail on the painting. Nice item.
Bob Hudson Posted April 5, 2013 Author #21 Posted April 5, 2013 Using newspaperarchive.com I was able to confirm that he was indeed an enlisted man who got a commission, apparently in the 1960's. He enlisted in 1947. There was even a very short story about his being assigned to Coastal Flotilla Three:
firefighter Posted April 5, 2013 #22 Posted April 5, 2013 Very cool.Nice to find info like that.You got a good one.I am a little jealous tho. Glad I could at least help you I.D. it.
Bob Hudson Posted April 5, 2013 Author #23 Posted April 5, 2013 Very cool.Nice to find info like that.You got a good one.I am a little jealous tho. Glad I could at least help you I.D. it. Yes, thanks so much. There were two sets of medals that came with the plaque and that I've confirmed he was enlisted, I'm sure they are his (again, I got these from a woman who had been his next door neighbor). I decided to take some better photos of the plaque this morning and it looked like it needed to wiped off: well, it looks like it had 40 years of nicotine on it and it took several passes to clean it up. It does look better now:
RustyCanteen Posted April 5, 2013 #24 Posted April 5, 2013 That is some beautiful detail on the plaque (and great photos too).
Bob Hudson Posted April 5, 2013 Author #25 Posted April 5, 2013 That is some beautiful detail on the plaque (and great photos too). The plaque has a few scratches, but that original painting of the boat is just too cool!
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