[calcowgirl]

Good question.

I posted the majority of the text of that action report HERE as copied from Page 9 of the PDF file at
www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/SpotReports_March1969.pdf [PDF: 301kb]

Here's the boat damage described. How can you accidentally report the wrong boat?
I wonder if the Hull No. is that of PCF-3 or PCF-94.

ALFA:     1. PCF-94 HULL REG NR 50NS6678 BATTLE DAMAGE
BRAVO:    1. C-4
          2. PCF NOT CAPABLE OF EXECUTING MARKET TIME PATROL
          3. PCF/DT 1,2/NA
CHARLIE:  ETR  181200Z MAR 69
DELTA:    TWO STBD AND ONE PORT MAIN CABIN WINDOWS BLOWN OUT.
          VRC-46 RADIO AND ALL REMOTE UNITS PILOT HOUSE INOP.
          AC WIRING SHORTED OUT.  ONAN GENERATOR INOP.  STEERAGE
          CONTROL AFTER HELM INOP.  STBD BILGE PUMP BROKEN.
          SCREWS CURLED AND CHIPPED.  RADAR GEAR BOX FROZEN.
          MAIN ENGINES EXPERIENCED DROP
ECHO:     BATTLE DAMAGE
GOLF:     A. (1) NO 2() YES (3) NO (4) NO (5) NO
HOTEL:    AN THOI, RVN

[Robert A Cook PE]

Nah.

oat had run aground though .....8<) (Maybe if the CO hadn't kept jumping ashore to make movie shots .....)

"SCREWS CURLED AND CHIPPED."

(Like that's all the damage that happened from mine explosion.)

The rest? I don't see much real battle damage other than the windows.

[The Bandit]

That is the PCF-94 hull number!!!! Click the link aagain and check out the latest dirt Captain Ed found on Kerry/Alston!!! This is getting EXPLOSIVE!

[DmBarch]

No, that is the 94 boat. You need to "mine" the threads on the Swiftvets forum. The blown out windows were admitted by Kerry to be from the day before (3/12) in his diary published on page 304 of "Tour of Duty". The prop damage could have come from the boat hitting a log or the banks of the 75 foot wide canal when he fled after the 3 boat mine explosion. The non-functional electric equipment may have been a good reason for it to be laid up for repair. The 94 boat got fixed and went back on patrol on the 18th. The Charlie part of your message may be an estimated return to service date, which I think also means the 18th.

But Kerry wasn't going back out on patrol anyway. "Unfit for Command" says that one of the other officers told Kerry about the three Purple Heart provision after the 3/13 mission and said it would be best for all concerned if Kerry took that way out. Kerry's request for relief was received in Washington, D.C., on 3/17.