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The 'ShipCraft' series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeller through a brief history of the subject, highlighting differences between ships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring colour profiles and highly detailed line drawings and scale plans.
The modelling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the subjects, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit.
This is followed by an extensive photographic gallery of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references – books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites.
This volume is something of a departure for the series in covering a wide variety of the types, at first improvised and then purpose-built for the Brown Water conflict. Besides the well-known American involvement, the book also covers some of the craft used by the French in their earlier struggle with Vietnamese guerrillas. With its unparalleled level of visual information – paint schemes, models, line drawings and photographs – this book is simply the best reference for any modelmaker setting out to build one of these unusual craft.
In the course of the 19th Century, during the expansion of their overseas empire, the French were the most prolific users of river gunboats, deploying them worldwide, from the jungles of South America to the desert near Timbuktu. In Africa the Marchand expedition hauled a small river gunboat across the continent from West to East, through mountain ranges, jungles and swamps, and launched her on the Nile near an abandoned Egyptian fort at a place called Fashoda. In Indochina, the rivers offered a means of projecting power well into the interior, and at one spot on the Mekong, the French even constructed a light railway line to transport gunboats up-river past a series of rapids.
When France attempted to re-establish her hegemony in Indochina after the collapse of Imperial Japan in 1945, she was faced with a major insurrection by nationalists. In the dramatic conflict which ensued the French lost heavily in many local reverses, culminating in the catastrophe of Diên Biên Fu. In complete contrast to the disasters which befell them on land, on the river systems the French held the upper hand, and in particular the introduction of the Dinassaut units cemented their control over the extensive waterways.
Struggling to rebuild after four years of occupation, the French had relied heavily on their wartime allies for equipment, and they were forced to improvise many types of riverine combat vessels, armed with whatever weapons came to hand.
After they left Indochina, the types which the French evolved were passed on to the South Vietnamese, who in turn relied heavily on American support. When the United States made the fateful decision to greatly expand its presence in Vietnam, the Americans copied many of the existing French conversions, and went on to develop their own riverine combat vessels, with varying degrees of success. One can therefore trace a continuous line of development from the French improvisations of the 1940s to the final American designs of 1975.
We examine the wealth of models available in various scales. As with the early French craft, we can modify several models of landing craft to serve as armed and armoured patrol vessels and monitors, and this process continues into the US period. With their vast industrial base, the United States was able to launch many purpose-built craft, and the last of the river Monitors were formidable vessels, with flamethrowers and even water cannons.
Corrigenda 21 January 2021
Due to my Publisher substituting a photo at the very last moment, the caption to the bottom photo on Page 69 should read "Below: An ex-French STCAN boat camouflaged in Vietnamese service."
Again, the profile line drawings are in Black & White, and not in colour as described in the amazon description..
Read what reviewers thought of my book:
Riverine Craft of the Vietnam Wars by Roger Branfill-Cook will not disappoint. This is a book that’s been crying to be published for many years and it’s finally here! If you like Riverine Craft and Modeling this book is a must to have for your reference library. The book is well organized with chapters on French, American, and South Vietnamese Riverine Craft. There is also a very nice chapter of riverine model kits currently available in various scales. Throughout the book are photos of those kits and wonderful dioramas to inspire you to build your own. Khaki Jackie. Reviewed on amazon in the United States on September 4, 2020
4 stars: A Swift Overview
Another in Seaforth Publishing’s useful and interesting Ship Craft series, Riverine Craft of the Vietnam Wars takes us to that unfortunate country, which was the scene of so much fighting around its vital network of rivers for much of the Twentieth Century. The theme that runs through the book is conversion; that of the foreign and ARVN armies trying to establish control, and for modelers building replica riverine craft.
Roger Branfill-Cook introduces his readers to the plethora of converted shallow-draft boats, landing craft, barges, amphibious armoured vehicles, and specifically designed boats that the French, Americans, and South Vietnamese deployed along the Vietnamese rivers, along with their technical specifications. They tested an abundance of weapons that they hoped would work against their nationalist and communist enemies, including all calibres of machine-guns, mortars and other light artillery pieces, flamethrowers, and even water cannons. Of course, the enemy returned fire, so armour was added in various forms to protect the vessels and their crews. But that affected the boats’ weight, therefore their draught and speed, rendering some of them unfit for purpose. Specialist troops, such as SEALS, needed specialist craft, and Branfill-Cook covers those too. The centrepiece of the book is the section on available models and exemplary builds and dioramas, the Jack Carrico dioramas are particularly good.
Modelers will find Riverine Craft of the Vietnam Wars an invaluable and attractive source of information. The reference page also makes this book a useful jumping off point for further exploration into books, websites, and model manufacturers. However, as someone studying America’s Vietnam War, I found this survey interesting and informative too, and Roger Branfill-Cook answered in passing many of the questions I had about this peculiar form of warfare.
ROBERT NEIL SMITH. Reviewed on amazon in the United Kingdom on 29 June 2020
Another in Seaforth Publishing’s useful and interesting Ship Craft series, Riverine Craft of the Vietnam Wars takes us to that unfortunate country, which was the scene of so much fighting around its vital network of rivers for much of the Twentieth Century. The theme that runs through the book is conversion; that of the foreign and ARVN armies trying to establish control, and for modelers building replica riverine craft.
Roger Branfill-Cook introduces his readers to the plethora of converted shallow-draft boats, landing craft, barges, amphibious armoured vehicles, and specifically designed boats that the French, Americans, and South Vietnamese deployed along the Vietnamese rivers, along with their technical specifications. They tested an abundance of weapons that they hoped would work against their nationalist and communist enemies, including all calibres of machine-guns, mortars and other light artillery pieces, flamethrowers, and even water cannons. Of course, the enemy returned fire, so armour was added in various forms to protect the vessels and their crews. But that affected the boats’ weight, therefore their draught and speed, rendering some of them unfit for purpose. Specialist troops, such as SEALS, needed specialist craft, and Branfill-Cook covers those too. The centrepiece of the book is the section on available models and exemplary builds and dioramas, the Jack Carrico dioramas are particularly good.
Modelers will find Riverine Craft of the Vietnam Wars an invaluable and attractive source of information. The reference page also makes this book a useful jumping off point for further exploration into books, websites, and model manufacturers. However, as someone studying America’s Vietnam War, I found this survey interesting and informative too, and Roger Branfill-Cook answered in passing many of the questions I had about this peculiar form of warfare.
ROBERT NEIL SMITH.Reviewed on amazon n the United Kingdom on 29 June 2020
5 stars: Beautiful publication
Accurate both in the texts and in the drawings and photos. Gaspare Reviewed in Italy on 9 November 2024
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