Yankee Station

Unless I am way off base, Yankee Station was in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam where the birds from the carriers flew from!

There were four bases/outposts north of Con Tien called Charlie 1, 2, 3, & 4, which were the start of McNamara's project to put a barrier around the south to keep the NVA/VC out.

That may be what you are looking for.

Duke Dearing

The only "Yankee Station"

Yankee Station was a point in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam used by the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 to launch strikes in the Vietnam War. While its official designation was "Point Yankee," it was universally referred to as Yankee Station. Carriers conducting air operations at Yankee Station were said to be "on the line" and statistical summaries were based on days on the line.

The name derived from it being the geographic reference point "Y", pronounced "Yankee" in the NATO phonetic alphabet. In turn the term Point Yankee derived from the launch point for "Yankee Team" aerial reconnaissance missions over Laos conducted in 1964. It was located 160 km (100 mi) from the coast, at 16° N latitude and 110° E longitude.

During the two periods of sustained air operations against North Vietnam (March 2, 1965-October 31, 1968 and March 30, 1972-December 29, 1972) there were normally three carriers on the line, each conducting air operations for twelve hours, then off for twelve hours. One of the carriers would operate from noon to midnight, another from midnight to noon, and one during daylight hours, which gave 24-hour coverage plus additional effort during daylight hours, when sorties were most effective. However at the end of May, 1972, six carriers were for a short period of time on the line at Yankee Station conducting Linebacker strikes.

The first aircraft carrier at Yankee Station was USS Kitty Hawk, which was ordered there in April 1964 for the Yankee Team missions. Kitty Hawk was joined by Ticonderoga in May and Constellation in June, two months prior to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Ticonderoga and Constellation launched the first bombing missions from Yankee Station on August 5, 1964. Constellation was also the last carrier conducting operations at Yankee Station on August 15, 1973.

A corresponding Dixie Station in the South China Sea off the Mekong Delta was a single carrier point for conducting strikes within South Vietnam from May 15, 1965 to August 3, 1966.

Yankee Station-Dixie Station

I believe Duke is correct. Yankee Station was located, as the name implies, in the Northern part of "I" Corps area off of or near the DMZ. We operated there for several weeks, maybe a little further south, supporting a BLT in Hue City during TET 1968. Conversely we went off of Dixie Station when we supported operations in the Arizona Territory off of Chu Lai and the Southern reaches of the Marines in "I" Corps A.O.
Hope this helps.

The McNamara Line

Duke -

What a great idea that was eh?

Here's the skinny:

The McNamara Line was a defensive line created by the United States during the Vietnam War to prevent inflitration of South Vietnam by NVA forces. The plan was announced by Robert McNamara in September 1967, when it became clear that Operation Rolling Thunder was not proving effective in damaging North Vietnam's military industry. It would consist of a 20,000 air dropped listening devices combined with 240,000,000 Gravel mine and 300,000,000 Button mines and 19,200 Sadeye cluster bombs at a cost of around one billion dollars a year, not including 1.6 billion dollars for research and development, and the construction of a 600 million dollar command centre in Thailand.

NVA LP's

I think the high dollar "LP's" were code named Igloo White. Can't recall just now where, but I read a report on the listening devices and their supposed benefits. The expenses they reported were far less than the figures you mention, and I'd think yours are correct, Tom. Another McNamara debacle!:(

The were two Yankee Stations. One was the outpost near Con Thien. There is a reference to it in the Command Chronology of 2/1 for Jan 68: "In addition to construction of covered fighting bunkers and extensive trenchlines, all aspects of planning were carried out relative to withdrawing our forces from Yankee Station into our main position at Con Thien, and reinforcing the hardest hit sectors of the main defense."

The other Yankee Station that everyone is familiar with is in the Gulf of Tonkin, north of 16th parallel.

I stand corrected

Learn something new everyday !

Con Thien/ yankee station and South China Seas/ Yankee Station

Bases or outposts were lined east to west just below the DMZ in 1967,Operation DYEMARKER) there was 3 or 4 outposts such a A-4 , C-2 and Con Thien, then the western mountains and Khe sanh at the Laos border. Yankee station, USMC and Yankee station, Naval Fleet were differant as described earlier. By plotting the radio traffic between Hotel 2/1/1 Command Post and platoon patrol check points, Yankee station was about at YD689100 map cordinates, the location was to the southwest Of Con thien (YD701115) located closest to the portion of the DMZ that jutted out to South Vietnam (see attachment). It was the first line of defense in stopping the NVA from overrunning Con Thien and sweeping into Dong Ha/ Phu bai/ and Hue. 2/1/1 was relocated from DaNang in the fall of 1967, part of Operation Checkerboard in which Marine Battalions and Army Brigades were located in I Corps before Tet68 to stop the NVA invasion that was expected), the location was to the southwest Of Con thien, closest to the portion of the DMZ that jutted out to South Vietnam. Hue was infiltrated with merciless results while Con Thien, Dong ha and Phi bai held. Con Thien and yankee station were pounded with up to 1800 artillery, rocket and mortars per day. The NVA wanted that outpost as it disrupted their plans for staging areas of ammo and men.