Editing Operation Market Time (section)

==Background==
When a trawler was intercepted landing arms and ammunition at [[Vung Ro Bay]] in northern [[Khánh Hòa Province]] on 16 February 1965, it provided the first tangible evidence of the North Vietnamese supply operation. This became known as the [[Vung Ro Bay Incident]].<ref name=Noble>Noble</ref> Operation Market Time was established by the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff at the request of General [[William C. Westmoreland]], commanding general of [[Military Assistance Command Vietnam]]. He requested that the U.S. Navy establish a naval blockade of the vast South Vietnam coastline against North Vietnamese gun-running trawlers.<ref name=Larzelere6>Larzelere, p 6</ref> The trawlers, usually {{convert|100|ft}} long Chinese-built steel-hulled coastal freighters, could carry several tons of arms and ammunition in their hulls. Not flying a national ensign that would identify them, the ships would maneuver "innocently" out in the South China Sea, waiting for the cover of darkness to make high-speed runs to the South Vietnam coastline. If successful, the ships would off load their cargoes to waiting [[Việt Cộng]] (VC) or [[People's Army of Vietnam]] (PAVN) forces.

At the time of inception, the Coast Guard contributed seventeen {{convert|82|ft}} [[Point-class cutter]]s while the Navy added approximately fifty ships known as [[Patrol Craft Fast]] (PCFs or Swifts) that could reach a maximum speed of 28 knots.<ref name=Cutler82-85>Cutler, pp 82-85</ref> In detail, on 16 April 1965 [[United States Secretary of the Navy]] [[Paul Nitze]] requested Coast Guard assistance with Market Time. On 6 May 1965, the seventeen Point-class cutters were loaded as deck cargo on merchant ships in [[New York City]], [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], [[New Orleans]], [[Galveston]], [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]], [[San Francisco]] and [[Seattle]] for transport to [[U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay]]. At Subic Bay each of the cutters was armed with an 81&nbsp;mm mortar and five [[M2 Browning|.50 caliber machine guns]]. Coast Guard Squadron One was organized into Division Eleven with eight of the cutters and Division Twelve with nine of the cutters. Division Twelve sailed on 15 July 1965 and arrived at [[Đà Nẵng]] on 20 July. Division Eleven sailed on 20 July and arrived at [[An Thoi Naval Base|An Thoi]] on 31 July. An additional nine cutters were provided to form Division Thirteen at [[Vũng Tàu]] in early 1966. Each cutter with an eleven-man crew would spend four days on patrol followed by two days alongside a support ship. All 26 cutters were turned over to South Vietnamese crews between 16 May 1969 and 15 August 1970.<ref name=Noble/>