Point Grey; both cutters using their mortars to set the trawler on fire. Later the whole area was shaken with a tremendous explosion as the trawler's ammunition supplies exploded. This incident marked the first time a Market Time unit had interdicted a suspicious trawler. Point Cypress helped with the rescue Philippine tugboat Alyee which was threatened by high seas while pulling four barges from Saigon to Cam Ranh Bay on 16 December 1967. On 5 December 1968, Fireman Heriberto S. "Ed" Hernandez, a crewman of Point Cypress, was killed in action during small boat operations near the Ca Mau Peninsula. He was one of seven Coast Guardsmen killed in action during the Vietnam War. After 14 July 1970, Point Cypress and were the last two cutters left in Squadron One, the other 24 having been previously transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Navy under the United States government's Vietnamization policy. On 19 July 1970 Point Cypress along with Point Marone were pulled off Market Time duties and sent to the Thanh Phu Secret Zone to land Kit Carson Scouts for a search and destroy mission. The two cutters used their mortars and machine guns to back up the assault which resulted in the capture of VC troops and boxes of enemy documents. A week later the same tactics were used with success by landing an Australian explosive ordnance detachment on the My Thanh River. The last patrol of Point Cypress was conducted on 4 August with Point Marone in a narrow canal flowing into the Cổ Chiên River with 25 Kit Carson Scouts aboard each cutter and a mostly South Vietnamese Navy crew. After both cutters had turned around in the narrow canal, Point Marone was damaged by a command detonated mine causing three deaths among the Vietnamese crew and Scouts and several injuries. Point Cypress provided suppression fire with machine guns and her mortar and the Point Marone managed to clear the ambush scene. Eleven days later, on 15 August 1970 the patched and painted Point Marone and Point Cypress were turned over to the Republic of Vietnam Navy with Point Cypress recommissioned as RVNS Hồ Duy (HQ-724). References Bibliography External links "Point" Class 82-foot WPBs Coast Guard Historian's website Cypress 1961 ships Vietnam War patrol vessels of the United States United States Coast Guard ships transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Navy Ships built by the United States