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The Attack on the USNS ''Card'' was a Viet Cong operation during the Vietnam War. It took place in the port of Saigon in the early hours of May 2, 1964, and mounted by commandos from the 65th Special Operations Group (). The ''Card'' was first commissioned into the United States Navy during World War II, playing a significant role in destroying German Navy submarines as the flagship of Task Group 21.14. Decommissioned in 1945, the ''Card'' was reactivated in 1958 and entered service with the Military Sea Transport Service, transporting military equipment to South Vietnam as part of the United States military commitment to that country. With the USNS ''Card'' a regular visitor to the port, it became a target for local Viet Cong commando units. Shortly after midnight on May 2, 1964, two Viet Cong commandos climbed out of the sewer tunnel near the area where the ''Card'' was anchored, and they attached two loads of explosives to the ship’s hull. The attack was a success and the ''Card'' sank 48 feet, and five civilian crew members were killed by the explosions. The ship was refloated 17 days later, and was towed to the Philippines for repairs. ==Background== The USNS ''Card'' was a Bogue class escort carrier that had served in the United States Navy with distinction. The ''Card''’s hull was laid down on October 27, 1941; originally intended as a cargo ship, the ship was reclassified ACV-11 and converted into an escort carrier with a displacement of 9,800 tons. On July 15, 1943, the ''Card'' was reclassified CVE-11 and became the flagship of Task Group 21.14 (TG21.14), a hunter-killer group formed to destroy German submarines in the North Atlantic. During the periods between July and November, the ''Card''’s aircraft and the escort vessels of TG21.14 destroyed a total of five German submarines.〔Wise, p.46〕 On November 11, 1943, the ''Card'' and her escort destroyers were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their success as part of TG21.14, and the ''Card'' became the first escort carrier to receive such an award for combating German submarines. By the end of World War II, the ''Card'' and her aircraft destroyed a total of 11 German submarines, which made it the second most successful ship of its class.〔Wise, p.45〕 After 1945 the ''Card'' was decommissioned and briefly put out of service when it was transferred to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. On May 16, 1958, the ''Card'' re-entered service with the Military Sea Transport Service, under the control of the United States Navy. The ship was manned by a civilian crew and was prefixed "USNS" (United States Naval Ship) instead of "USS" (United States Ship) as it was in service but not commissioned.〔Grey, p.146〕 With the war's escalation, the United States government stepped up military support for South Vietnam's fight against the Communist National Liberation Front (also known as the Viet Cong). On December 15, 1961, the USNS ''Card'' left Quonset Point, Rhode Island, with a cargo of H-21 Shawnee helicopters and U.S. soldiers from Fort Devens, Massachusetts, bound for Vietnam. At Subic Bay in the Philippines, the cargo and troops were transferred to the ''USS Princeton'', which arrived and unloaded off the coast of Da Nang the following month.〔() BATTALION HISTORY, 93rd Trans / 121st AHC, Early History, Web 4 Jan 2013.〕 From 1961 onwards, the ''Card'' and the USNS ''Core'' regularly docked in Saigon to unload heavy artillery, M-113 armored personnel carriers, aircraft, helicopters and ammunition for the South Vietnamese government. The Port of Saigon was situated between the Te and Ben Nghe Canals, and was about wide from one side to the other.〔Ho, p.11〕 To facilitate the arrival of the ''Card'' and other American ships which pulled into Saigon, the South Vietnamese military often deployed navy vessels to conduct patrols around the port, while the surrounding shores were protected by an elite Army of the Republic of Vietnam ("ARVN") airborne battalion. The port itself was guarded round the clock by South Vietnamese police, as undercover South Vietnamese agents operated across the river in the Thu Thiem area to disrupt Viet Cong activities there. Undeterred by the level of protection which the South Vietnamese government normally afforded to American ships, Tran Hai Phung—commander of the Viet Cong’s Saigon-Gia Dinh Military District—ordered the 65th Special Operations Group to attack the USNS ''Card''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Attack on the USNS Card」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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