WESTPAC TALES: When the U.S. Navy Mined Haiphong Harbor (Operation Pocket Money)
by DS2 William Gary Pickens
First, let me explain how I happened to be involved in this military action….
After I enlisted in the Navy (as an alternative to being drafted into the Army) during the Vietnam War, I was sent to Boot Camp in San Diego, California in 1970. The aptitude tests I took during Boot Camp put me into Naval Electronics training in San Diego and then into NTDS (Naval Technical Data Systems) School in Mare Island, California. (My wife Marilyn and I met on February 12, 1971, at a U.S.O. Military Ball, which was held in Oakland, California, near Mare Island.) Between the two schools, I had been given at least a year of specialized training before I started active duty, so I had extended the enlistment that I owed to Uncle Sam. I had to serve a total of six years before I could return to civilian life.
I was promoted to Petty Officer Third Class (DS3) during my training and I made Petty Officer Second Class (DS2) before I was married. Becoming a DS2 meant that I was entitled to a housing allowance so that I (and my family) could live off the military base wherever I was stationed. I served aboard the U.S.S. Chicago CG-11 during all my years of active military duty.
Now back to my story of Haiphong Harbor....
On May 9, 1972, I knew that things were heating up when I had completed my 8 hour work shift (which had started at midnight) and I went out on the foredeck (the front end of the ship, between the launcher and the number 11 on the ship’s hull in the picture you see on the first page of this tale). I wanted to get an early morning view of North Vietnam and see what was happening. I had my 35 mm camera with a good telephoto lens. These photos are the ones I took that morning. (It was just after sunrise, so the pictures were taken in a low light situation.) In the first image, the mountains were very small, but they grew bigger and bigger as we moved closer to Haiphong Harbor.
Haiphong Harbor 
Haiphong Harbor 
Haiphong Harbor 
Haiphong Harbor
I spent quite a bit of time outdoors, watching what was going on and taking pictures. Then I heard the deep growling, grinding noise of the missiles getting ready for launch. The missiles themselves were not not visible yet, but the heavy machinery that moved them had been set into motion, and I knew that GQ (General Quarters, a call for all hands to move to battle stations) would be sounding soon. I figured it was time to get back inside quickly.
I had just made it back inside the ship when GQ was sounded and the hatches were sealed shut. (According to the official records, this was at 8:40 a.m.) I rushed to my GQ station, which was located in the Combat Information Center (CIC) where the computers were. Our ship had seen enough action that we had the normal 5 minutes of moving to GQ whittled down to one and a half minutes. For the next three days we were all at GQ.
During the night, we had steamed close to the harbor mouth, within range of the North Vietnamese artillery. Shortly after I arrived at my GQ station, the North Vietnamese opened fire on us. The first round landed a few hundred meters on the far side of the ship. The North Vietnamese then fired a second round, which landed on the other side of the ship. We immediately started speeding up as fast as we could, and started evasive maneuvers. The third round landed in our wake behind the ship. At about the same time, the ship made a sharp turn and started weaving right and left as we tried to get away, and this made the ship list (lean, in civilian terms) to the right and left.
As an explanation, when artillery is shooting at a ship, the enemy forces try to shoot on the far side of the target. Then on the second shot, they will aim closer, and by watching where the rounds land, they can hit the target with the third round. We didn’t want this to happen to us!
So by the time the third round came, our big cumbersome ship had managed to gain speed, and we had moved out of the way. The third round landed about 10-20 meters behind us. That third round would certainly have hit us if we had not sped up. We continued to gain speed, and to weave back and forth, until we were completely out of range.
GMCM Summers, a contributor to the “Old Blue Jacket” website (linked at the bottom of this journal, though the link may be obsolete now) remembers that the power strain of suddenly moving the ship so quickly, while the missile launchers were still being deployed, almost stopped the ship’s generators. The engineers had to quickly shut down the missile launchers so that all the power could be diverted to the engines for our escape. It was a very close thing.
According to the official records, the aircraft of the U.S.S. Coral Sea were carrying the mines, and began releasing them at 8:59 a.m. By 9:01 a.m., all the mines were in place in Haiphong Harbor. The U.S.S. Coral Sea then immediately notified President Nixon, who was speaking to the nation on a live television broadcast from the Oval Office. The President had been speaking very slowly while he waited for this news, and he immediately shared it with his audience. (It’s at about 9 minutes into his speech, which you can find at a link listed at the end of this document.)
As I said above, the mines (with small parachutes) were dropped into Haiphong harbor by aircraft flying from the U.S.S. Coral Sea. The North Vietnamese immediately sent out their aircraft to oppose them, of course. During this time, our TALOS Missile System shot down one North Vietnamese MIG, and our air traffic controllers were responsible for helping U.S. military aircraft shoot down a total of 12 other North Vietnamese MIGs. We were also responsible for aiding the aircraft which were returning to the U.S.S. Coral Sea from the air battle. The computer system I worked on was controlling the information guiding all of this.
The battles raged on for three days, as mines were also laid in the smaller harbors at Than Hoa, Phuc Loi, Quang Khe, and Dong Koi.
The port of Haiphong was closed for 300 days after this action. The American negotiators in the Paris peace talks used an offer to remove the mines as a bargaining chip for the release of American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam.
As a side note, on August 4th 1972, about three months after this battle, dozens of the mines that had been laid in Haiphong Harbor spontaneously detonated. The US Navy scientists at the time determined that this event was triggered by magnetic radiation from a large geomagnetic storm, caused by a coronal mass ejection from the sun. Independent scientific research in 2018 confirmed this determination.
The mines laid in Operation Pocket Money were removed in Operation End Sweep, which lasted from February to July in 1973, as required by the Paris Peace Accord signed in January 1973.
The removal of the mines officially ended the Vietnam War for the United States, although for North and South Vietnam the war continued until April 30, 1975.
For further reading:
The book One Day in a Long War: May 10, 1972, Air War, North Vietnam by Jeffrey Ethell and Alfred Price (Random House, New York 1989) discusses this battle, including the involvement of the U.S.S. Chicago during this engagement. The U.S.S. Chicago used the radio call sign “Red Crown” throughout this battle, as it had been called into action while on PIRAZ duty.
Another book, North SAR by Gerry Carroll (Pocket Books, New York 1991) describes the duties of the U.S. Navy ships assigned to man the PIRAZ radio station which operated in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. The radio call sign “Red Crown” was assigned to the position, where the U.S.S. Chicago was stationed when it was called into action in Operation Pocket Money. When the U.S.S. Chicago was on duty in other areas, it used the call sign “Fortify.”
Links:
Here is a link to the video of President Nixon, who is broadcasting from the White House, speaking about the operations in Haiphong Harbor just minutes after we finished:
Here is a link to the Old Bluejacket website, describing various sailors’ experiences:
http://www.oldbluejacket.com/chicago.htm (Link appears to be dead, as of February 22, 2021.)
Here is a reference about PIRAZ in the Vietnam War:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIRAZ
OSCM Larry Nowell was the Air Intercept Controller on the U.S.S. Chicago during Operation Pocket Money. His battle station was right outside our shop door, and the crew in NTDS saw him quite often, because we had the closest coffee pot. He liked to have friendly discussions with us when things were quiet. He was given the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and was inducted into the U.S. Navy Hall of Fame. Here is a link with information about him:
(Each member of the Combat Information Center/ Naval Tactical Data Systems crew, which supported the Air Intercept crew, got a written certificate of commendation from the Captain. I have not been able to find mine.)
Another link about OSCM Nowell is here:
Here is a link about Signals Intelligence at this time period, and also about the type of computers that I used to work on… no integrated circuits, and definitely not pocket sized!
http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/NTDS-Vietnam.html
Here is a link to the Wikipedia page about Operation Pocket Money:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pocket_Money
Here is a link to an overview of NTDS (Naval Tactical Data Systems) in the Vietnam War era:
Version: 3.5 February 22, 2021
