This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
Our diving barge, the HCU-1 Lift Craft LL3 and in the distance we see the famous or infamous Marble Mountains.
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A Navy Diving Shipmate asked me for pictures of us Navy Divers diving often without shirts or long pants on. I found these and post them for easier viewing or downloading. I added a few pics with cloth on to flesh out the story.
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Our Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge at Down Town Danang doing a diving job in 1966.
Our Diving Officer Lt. Doege is monkeying around. Our Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge is alongside the dry-dock in Danang Bay in 1966. If you look close, my name says Fritz, that is what my shipmates called me my first 7 years in the Navy, a BM2 on my first ship who had come from the Rhine River Patrol gave me that name, I met him here again as a BM1 and I had advanced to BM1 DV2 also.
This was my bunk on the Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge at Danang Bay in 1966/67 for about 13 month.
Once upon the time we were lean, it is me taking a shower. Our diving barge was rigged on an amphibious causeway section. One of the causeway tank sections was our water supply under air pressure.
We are doing our deck work on the Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge at Danang Bay in 1966.
Here are three hefty diving sailors on the Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge at Danang Bay in 1966. In the middle is John T. Brady.
This is on the front of the Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge at Danang Bay in 1966 at Camp Tien Sha Boat Ramp. Left are the NSA Danang Diving Officer and Lighterage Officer, right is BM2 DV2 Fitzgerald,
Our Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge was equipped with two large amphibious type outboard engines, in the beginning we did not have the controls rigged on the bridge yet. That was tricky sometime.
John T Brady and I are getting ready for supper on the Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge at Danang Bay in 1966.
BM2 DV2 Fitzgerald on the bridge of the Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge at Danang Bay in 1966.
Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge is approaching a salvage job at Down Town Danang diving job in 1966.
Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge is moored over the Red Beach Fuel line and we are repairing it. This is in the Danang Bay, we did fuel line repair jobs up and down the I Corps beaches from Chu Lai to the DMZ.
This is another typical diving job in Danang 1966/67 and all over I-Corps. The vessel in back is an APL a berthing barge, there 3 in Danang at that time. We drew our chow rations from these crafts.
This was our most frequent activity, clearing fouled screws on all kind of ships or crafts; on smaller landing boats and crafts we changed shafts, screws and bearings under water. In I-Corps there many boats and landing craft supplying the Marines all over the I-Corps. When I reported there, the personal Officer looked at my record and saw that I went to assault boat training and said “Just what we need”. But he failed to see that I also was diver.
We are doing a screw clearing job on an LCU Landing Craft Utility in the Danang River in 1966/67.
This is a diving introduction dive for a diving school student candidate and it is conducted on the front of the Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge at Danang Bay in 1966. Left is John T Brady and right is Jim Starcher.
This is a diving introduction dive for a diving school student candidate and it is conducted on the front of the Danang Naval Support Activity Diving Barge at Danang Bay in 1966. The diving tender is John T Brady; he was a First Class Diver and our leader.
This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
Our diving barge, the HCU-1 Lift Craft LL3 and in the distance we see the famous or infamous Marble Mountains.
This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
This is one of eight images of a salvage job of a WWII sunk ship on the left bank of the Danang River, down-town Danang in 1967. It was conducted by the Harbor Clearance Unit One (HCU-1). Our Naval Support Activity Danang Diving Barge and crew helped. The purpose was to clear this mooring site for the German Hospital Ship Helgoland.
The guy at left is me, yours truly.
After the job was done, HCU-1 had left, we were charged to make sure nothing is sticking out of the Danang River mud over a certain depth. We used C4 to do the job, and the Hospital Ship Helgoland was clear to shift from Saigon to Danang. This German American helped.
This one was our most interesting job; this is a Navy manned LCM-8 the Marines required for ferry service over the Thu Bon River. This crossing was about 32 Km south of the Danang Air Base and about 23 km upriver for the famous South Viet Nam Town Hoi An. We went there about every 3 weeks and changed screws, shafts or bearings, whatever was needed. Left is BM2 DV2 Bamberger, I never learned what has happened to him. If someone knows, I would appreciate it.
The German Hospital Ship Arrived in Danang in 1968, an exciting day for me, since only 8 years ago I arrived in the USA from Germany. Later I made friends with some of the crew and they shared their German beer.