page_title: USCGC Point Arden (WPB-82309)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: USCGC Point Arden (WPB-82309) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Page of logbook of USCG Point Arden for 2 Feb 1970
context_page_description: USCGC Point Arden (WPB-82309) was an 82-foot Point class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1961 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1961 was not to name cutters under 100-foot in length, it was designated as WPB-82309 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Caution in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65-foot.
context_section_description: After delivery in 1961, Point Arden was assigned a homeport of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, where she served as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.
  At the request of the United States Navy, in April 1965, she was alerted for service in South Vietnam and assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One in support of Operation Market Time along with 16 other Point class cutters. While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, Point Arden was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to Subic Bay, Philippines in May 1965 where she was refit for combat service. Shipyard modifications included installation of new single-sideband radio equipment, additional floodlights, small arms lockers, bunks, additional sound-powered phone circuits, and the addition of 4 M2 machine guns. The original bow mounted machine gun was replaced with a combination over-under .50 caliber machine gun/81mm trigger fired mortar that had been developed by the Coast Guard for service in Vietnam. For service in Vietnam, two officers were added to the crew complement to add seniority to the crew in the mission of interdicting vessels at sea.
  Point Arden was assigned to Division 12 of Squadron One to be based at Da Nang, along with USCGC Point Caution, USCGC Point Dume, USCGC Point Ellis, USCGC Point Gammon, USCGC Point Lomas, USCGC Point Orient and USCGC Point Welcome. After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Da Nang on 16 July 1965 in the company of USS Snohomish County, their temporary support ship. After almost two weeks at sea, they arrived at their new duty station on 20 July and began patrolling the coastal waters near Da Nang. Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board. Permanent engineering and logistic support of Division 12 was provided by a U.S. Navy non-self-propelled floating workshop, YR-71. During this time, the WPB's were directed to paint the hulls and superstructures formula 20 deck gray to cover the stateside white paint. This increased the effectiveness of night patrols.
  On 10 March 1968, Point Arden was refueling from the U.S. Navy oiler USS Patapsco near Cửa Việt Base when Viet Cong mortar fire ignited some ammunition and flares on the ramp of the Naval Support Activity Detachment (NSAD). The commanding officer of Point Arden', Lieutenant Junior Grade William C. Carr,' directed his crew to offload firefighting gear to the shore to assist in the containment of the fire and he then went to the other side of the ramp with the cutter and the crew used fire hoses to help suppress the fire. Several large explosions occurred during the firefighting and one explosion shattered all the glass on the bridge of the cutter and injured several of the crew. The crew of the Point Arden were commended  by the commander of Navy Task Group 115.1 for their firefighting efforts.
  On 9 August 1969, during a harassment and interdiction mission using the cutter's mortar the Executive Officer, LTJG Michael W. Kirkpatrick, and an engineer, EN1 Michael H. Painter were killed by a misfired round in the mortar. They were two of seven Coast Guardsmen killed in action during the Vietnam War.
  On 14 February 1970, Point Arden was turned over to the Republic of Vietnam Navy as part of the Vietnamization of the war effort and recommissioned as RVNS Phạm Ngọc Châu (HQ-710).
caption: Page from log of the Arden, 1 February 1970
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