Operation Market Time:
Photo was taken on 29 November 1966 by Photographer’s Mate Second Class Whitmarsh. USN 1120032
A Cat Lo-based U.S. Navy large personnel landing craft (LCPL) cruises in Vung Tau Harbor in South Vietnam during an Operation Market Time patrol. The LCPL is armed with a .50-caliber air-cooled Browning M2 machine gun complete with shield and a pair of muzzle-oriented spotlights– “the better to see you with.”
By the looks of it, LCPL#33 is a 36-foot fiberglass MK11-type, which could float in as little as three-feet of brown water and make a blazing 19-knots on its Detriot Diesel, though the bone in the mouth of that sharkjaw looks to be more impressive than that.
