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Text Box: Vietnam: LCSRs The first large U.S. fiberglass naval boat ___________________________________________       On July 5th, 1961, the SCB specified requirements for three classes of craft: a shallow-water boat, a transport/logistic boat, and a pair of patrol boats, one for offshore work and one for rivers. On July 27th, CinCPacFleet listed his needs for a limited war. The obvious candidate for costal surveillance was the PGM, which was already in production. With its six-foot draft it could enter river approaches, but it could not penetrate a river deeply. The ASW version would be worse, given the extra draft of its SQS-17 sonar dome. Even so, in June 1961 a CinCPacFleet/CinCPac team recommended that the United States supply eight PGMs of the 16-knot PGM 43 class to Vietnam under the FY 62 MAP program in place of the planned fleet minesweeper (MSF) as a means of improving patrol coverage. These PGMs received new engines, Mercedes-Benz diesels, and their armament was changed to reflect a gunboat mission. The boats became the PGM 59 class.     At this point, the Navy stated a new requirement for a reasonably fast, well-armed patrol craft, seaworthy enough for offshore patrol but with a light enough draft to permit operations in coastal waters. It would be armed with one single 40mm gun, two twin 20mm, and one twin 0.50-caliber machine gun.     As of October 1961, the principal candidate was a more heavily armed version of the new plastic LCSR swimmer-reconnissance boat (SCB 211). Like most other Navy boats, the LCSR was relatively heavily loaded, in this case with a full twenty-two-man UDT team, 4,000 pounds of equipment, and 2,00 pounds of armament for a total of 10,000 pounds, the figure later associated with the PGH armament alone. It could also carry 10,000 pounds of fuel on a total displacement of only about 50,000 pounds. The design was limited by requirements for shallow draft to approach enemy-held beaches and, like the design of an LCM-6 landing craft, for stowage on the well deck of an LSD or LPD. Wet-well stowage also required that the LCSR hull incorporate a large skeg to support it when the LSD well was pumped dry. It was later discovered that the skeg acted as a fin when the boat turned at high speed, almost tipping it over; LSDs had to carry LCSRs in special cradles.        At the same time, the LCSR was designed for a high sustained speed of 30 knots in moderately rough weather (sea state 3), 32 knots in a calm. With fiberglass-reinforced plastic construction-the LCSR was the largest plastic planing hull. It promised the sort of maintenance advantages that would be

Text Box: important in counterinsurgency warfare, where local forces would have to use American-supplied equipment. All of these figures made the LCSR attractive. It did not need living quarters of any kind. It was designed to run at maximum continuous speed for eight hours, or for 200 nautical miles at 30 knots. Lightly loaded, the LCSR was expected to achieve 40 knots. As in the much larger PGM, such high speed in a limited weight was achieved by gas turbine, in this case two 1,000 shp Solar units. They had been down rated from 1,100 shp to achieve what BuShips hoped would be a 2,000-hour overhaul cycle. Unfortunately, like the skeg, the Solar engine caused considerable trouble and contributed to the overall failure of the LCSR.     The issue of low-speed operation, to loiter off a cost, for example, in turn brought up the question of hull form. The LCSR would begin to plane at 16 knots, but its hard-chine from could hardly be described as sea friendly.     The LCSR patrol boat project was dropped in December of 1961. Boat Support Unit 1, which evaluated or helped develop the LCSR, operated seven LCSRs which had been bought for UDT1. They evaluated the LCSRs as unsatisfactory for combat operations. The unit’s verdict was that the LCSRs should not be deployed to Vietnam, and that they could be best used to support SEAL and UDT training off southern California and anti-PT/Komar (missile boat) training for ships deploying to the western Pacific. Specifications   Fast Attack Craft - LCSR___   Length (ft-in, oa)                  52 - 4.5 Beam (ft-in)                          14 - 9.25 Draft (ft-in, loaded)              5 - 6 Engines                                 two Saturn T-1000 Power (bhp, each engine)     1,000 Speed (kts, full load)           35 (max) / 30 (continuous) Fuel                                       1,300 gals Endurance (nm/kts)              200/35 Complement                          8 (enl) Weights (lbs)      Hull                                   20,141      Propulsion                         6,145      Electric                               2,217      Command / Control         2,814      Auxiliaries                            713      FO                                    36,410      LS                       53,630                                       FL                                       9,048 Source of information-  U.S. SMALL COMBATANTS

Text Box: Did the Whetstone work with these?

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