Assigned to the 34th General Support Group during the Vietnam War, the 1st Transportation Battalion (Seaborne) performed helicopter maintenance and repairs aboard the U.S. Army’s sole Floating Aircraft Maintenance Facility, the converted Navy seaplane tender that was rechristened the USNS Corpus Christi Bay for its new mission. The fact that the Army was able to convince the Navy to give up a vessel to another service branch was highly unusual, particularly when you consider the brouhaha that arose with the Air Force when the Army wanted organic fixed-wing aviation assets.
Operating out of Cam Ranh Bay, the USNS Corpus Christi Bay and the 1st Transportation Battalion made it possible for damaged helicopters to be repaired in-theater instead of being shipped all the way back to the U.S. In all, the Battalion comprised about 370 maintenance technicians and supporting personnel, with the ship itself manned by 130 civilian maritime crewmen. According a special operational report on the 34th Support Group published in November 1969, the efforts of the 1st Transportation Battalion made it possible for the U.S. Army to “maintain helicopters in numbers sufficient to meet the full range of combat operations.”
The 1st Transportation Battalion (Seaborne) Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved on 3 November 1965. Its missions as an seaborne aviation-maintenance unit are celebrated in the insignia’s design, which features a sea horse using a fin/hand to hold up a pair of insignia-style wings. And the motto, “First And Finest,” could not be more true, as the battalion was the only one that performed this role.
The USNS Corpus Christ was removed from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 December 1974
Operating out of Cam Ranh Bay, the USNS Corpus Christi Bay and the 1st Transportation Battalion made it possible for damaged helicopters to be repaired in-theater instead of being shipped all the way back to the U.S. In all, the Battalion comprised about 370 maintenance technicians and supporting personnel, with the ship itself manned by 130 civilian maritime crewmen. According a special operational report on the 34th Support Group published in November 1969, the efforts of the 1st Transportation Battalion made it possible for the U.S. Army to “maintain helicopters in numbers sufficient to meet the full range of combat operations.”
The 1st Transportation Battalion (Seaborne) Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved on 3 November 1965. Its missions as an seaborne aviation-maintenance unit are celebrated in the insignia’s design, which features a sea horse using a fin/hand to hold up a pair of insignia-style wings. And the motto, “First And Finest,” could not be more true, as the battalion was the only one that performed this role.
The USNS Corpus Christ was removed from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 December 1974