Swift Boats at War in Vietnam

LIFE AND DEATH ON THE WATER . . . STORIES FROM THE MEN WHO FOUGHT THE VIETNAM WAR ON THE COAST AND IN THE MEKONG DELTA

Developed specifically for the Vietnam War (and made famous by the 2004 presidential campaign), Swift Boats were versatile craft “big enough to outrun anything they couldn’t outfight” but too small to handle even a moderate ocean chop, too loud to sneak up on anyone, and too flimsy to withstand the mildest of rocket attacks. This made more difficult an already tough mission: navigating coastal waters for ships and sampans smuggling contraband to the Viet Cong, disrupting enemy supply lines on the rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta, and inserting SEALs behind enemy lines. The stories in this book cover the Swift Boats’ early years, which saw search-and-inspect operations in Vietnam’s coastal waters, and their later years, when the Swift Boats' mission shifted to the Mekong Delta’s labyrinth of 3,000 miles of rivers, streams, and canals. This is an intimate, exciting oral history of Swift Boats at war in Vietnam.

GUY GUGLIOTTA, a former Swift Boat officer, worked for more than forty years as correspondent and columnist for UPI, the Miami Herald, and The Washington Post. He is coauthor of Kings of Cocaine and author of Freedom’s Cap. Gugliotta was awarded three Bronze Stars. He lives in New York City.

JOHN YEOMAN was the skipper of PCF 37 and PCF 692. He also served as tactical commander of combined PCF, SEAL, and helicopter attacks in the canals of the Mekong Delta. After leaving the Navy, he earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and then worked in New York as an investment banker. In the late 1990s, he left Wall Street and was the skipper of commercial vessels, tugboats, and mega-yachts on San Francisco Bay. Since 2001, he has lived on Maui and now works as a financial advisor for a major wealth management firm. John was awarded the Bronze Star on three occasions while he was the skipper of Swift Boats.

NEVA SULLAWAY is an author, editor, and publishing consultant living in San Diego, California. A former photojournalist and competitive sailor, Sullaway has authored three books, all maritime-related. She published the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s Journal of Pacific Maritime History for ten years and continues to work with clients, preparing their work for publication.