Operation End Sweep
Operation End Sweep was conducted by the US Navy and US Marines in the waters in and around Vietnam between February and July 1973 . The aim of the mission was to remove and defuse all American mines in the coastal waters of North Vietnam as well as the mines in the inland waterways.
During the mission, a pair of destroyers escorted four sea mine seekers who were securing anchorages in the vicinity of Hải Phong .
Planning for Operation End Sweep had already begun before the Paris peace talks were concluded , as it was known that the lockdown of Haiphong had serious negative effects on the North Vietnamese economy and the US negotiating team could use an offer to clear the mines as a negotiating point, in order to be able to demand the release of American prisoners of war from Hanoi .
costs
The total cost of the operations performed was $ 20,394,000.
literature
- Tamara Moser Melia: Damn the torpedoes. A short history of US naval mine countermeasures, 1777-1991. Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, Washington, DC 1991, ISBN 0945274076 .
Web links
- Jerry Coppage: 6 February 1973 - 27 July 1973 The removal of mines from North Vietnam's coastal and inland waters. 2010, accessed December 9, 2015 .