You cannot have enough ordnance on a boat or ship, in my opinion, when it and its crew are going in harm's way.  Enterprising crews should be able to "augment" the normal equipment list with some "extras" -- provided their boss turns a blind eye.

 

In mid-1969, River Division 13 was changing over from U.S. Navy control to South Vietnamese Navy contol.  One of the gunners on an Armored Troop Carriers (called "Tango" boats) asked me if our ship had any use for an M60 General Purpose Machine Gun.  The Tango boat crew had salvaged an M60 from a crashed Army UH-1 helicopter and the gunner did not want to give it to the Vietnamese.  He figured they'd barter it to the VC.  I said to give it to me.

 

So, I hoisted the M60 on my shoulder and carried it from the boat, across the pontoon where the boats moored, and up the accomodation ladder on our ship -- a 327-foot barracks ship or APB built on a WW2 tank landing ship (LST) hull.

 

Armament for the Vietnam APBs in the Mekong river was heavy: two quad 40mm Bofors guns, eight .50 Browning machine guns, and eight Navy-converted 7.62mm Browning machine guns.  Two of the four APBs had a pair of 3"/50 guns in tubs on either side of their helicopter pads, aft.  My M60 was the "odd man out" when it came to standardazation, but it was free and shared the same ammo as the Browning guns.  The only difference between the Navy's 7.62 Browning conversions and M60 was I had to repack my four or five boxes of ammunition.  The Mk 21 Mod 0 Navy conversion had the gun feed the belted 7.62 ammunition in M13 links with the open side facing UP; the M60 required the open side of the M13 link to be DOWN.

 

After I checked out the gun, it became my personal weapon for my battle station when underway -- Director 42 for the after quad 40mm guns.  The after director was located on the 03 level, or three decks above the main deck, at the after end of the helicopter landing pad behind the smoke stack for the diesel exaust of the main engines.  To put a 2nd Class Gunner's Mate (Guns) on a gun director was a rather pointless exercise because neither the NVA or VC had an air force to attack us.

 

However, the after director did have a splendid view, clear fields of fire, and a nice steel gun tub that was perfect for the M60's employment.  The M60 went up to the tub at General Quarters.  I had four or five boxes of linked 7.62 up there.

 

One day the ship was making a long river transit, so I took a couple of flak jackets to use as a seat and back cushion and put them against the side of the gun tub.  I put my trusty M60 alongside me with my ammo, and I watched the world go by from under my phone talker's helmet as I listened to the normal chatter on the sound-powered phone circuit.

 

After several hours' underway time, our chief, GMGC Dobbins, came around to see if his guys were still on the ball.  He climbed up the ladder that led to the director, stuck his head over the top of the stucture, and there I was: on alert and against the gun tub with my flak jacket, sound-powered phones, talker's helmet, and M60 machine gun.

 

"What's that?" referring to the M60.

 

"Well, Chief, that's my pet M60.  This is the most useless place to be for a Gunner's Mate if the stuff hits the fan.  So, I got something to shoot back at the bad guys with a great view and a nearly perfect field of fire.  I got the gun from one of the Tango boats that was turned-over to the Vietnamese.  The gun's a combat loss from a downed Huey.  The gunner didn't want to give it to the South Vietnamese, so he gave it to me."

 

"OK.  You're responsible for it."

 

When we got our orders to head back to the States to decommission the ship, I gave the M60 to another boat crew that was staying behind.  It was the Vietnam equivalent of recycling before it became a trendy thing to do.