JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. – The U.S. Army Transportation Museum at Joint Base Langley-Eustis is ready to receive its new, and long-awaited, Vietnam War exhibit this month.
The only Patrol Boat, Riverine (PBR) arrives from the U.S. Army Military Police Museum located at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri on Feb. 8.
The PBR MK 2 was developed by the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam conflict to accommodate the need for a fast and maneuverable craft to patrol the coastal and river waterways in Southeast Asia.
While PBRs were mostly used by the Navy, the Army operated 39 of them under the control of the 458th (Sea Tigers) Transportation Company, attached to the 18th Military Police Brigade.
The 458th received the PBRs in early 1968 becoming the only PBR Company in the Army. The 458th established its headquarters at the Military Police compound at Ton Son Nhut Air Base in the Saigon area.
The company positioned detachments of four PBRs to ports at Qui Nhon, Vung Ro Bay, Vung Tao, Newport, Cat Lai, and Cat Lo.
They searched sampans, set up night ambushes to disrupt enemy supply lines, conducted harbor and river patrols, and ammunition ship security through the Qui Nhon area.
As part of the “Vietnamization” policy, the 458th PBRs were transferred to Vietnamese control, July 1971.
The one coming to Hampton Roads was acquired by the Military Police Museum from Keesler AFB, Gulf Port, Mississippi, in January 1983.
The boat’s history and hull number are unknown. Museum records state that this boat was transported to the MP Museum at Fort McClelland, Alabama, by a CH-54 “Flying-Crane.”