The Swift Boat Sailors Association is a veteran’s organization created by and for the personnel who manned or supported U.S. Navy PCFs (Patrol Craft Fast or Swift Boats) assigned to Coastal Squadron One during the United States involvement in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973
Swift Boats were first used in Operation Market Time to patrol the coastline of South Vietnam to prevent infiltration of soldiers, munitions and other supplies via the sea from North Vietnam
They were known as the workhorses of the US Navy’s Vietnam Coastal Surveillance Force: TASK FORCE 115
In late 1968, they joined with the PBRs (Patrol Boat River) and the Mobile Riverine Force in Admiral Elmo Zumwalt’s successful Mekong Delta riverways interdiction strategy: SEALORDS
Best estimates put the number of Swift personnel assigned as crew or in a support role to total between 3,000 and 3,500 from 1965 through 1973 when the last U.S. Naval Advisors left country