BATTLEZONE | Vietnam War Documentary | River Patrol (PBR) | S2E6

The U.S. Navy deployed a variety of small boats to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, but perhaps the best known of these is the river patrol boat. The “patrol boat: riverine,” or Navy PBR, was the first watercraft built for the so-called brown water navy in Vietnam. During the height of the conflict, Navy personnel scouted the rivers and canals of the sprawling Mekong Delta for communist guerrilla forces, arms, and ammunition. In addition to patrolling, Navy PBRs participated with Navy and Army troops in hit-and-run raids, reconnaissance patrols, and day and night ambushes. Patrol Boat, Riverine, or PBR, is the United States Navy designation for a small rigid-hulled patrol boat used in the Vietnam War from March 1966 until 1975. Cost: $400,000 Speed: 28.5 knots (53 km/h 32 mph) Length: 31 ft (9.4 m) (Mk I); 32 ft (9.8 m) (Mk II) Draft: 2 ft ( m) Complement: 4 enlisted Displacement: 8.9 ton for Mk II Preserved: 1 operational