Qualla: Cam Ranh Base https://qualla.com/cam-ranh-base en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/j/s/cam-ranh-base-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Cam Ranh Base https://qualla.com/cam-ranh-base Cam Ranh Base: Introduction https://qualla.com/cam-ranh-base/ Photo credit U.S. Army, Public domain. In the summer of 1965, over half of the 1,800 Vietnamese workers building a new American military runway at Cam Ranh Bay were women. They laid 2.2 million square feet of AM-2 aluminum matting in 50 days — fast enough that Admiral U.S.G. Sharp, commander of all US forces in the Pacific, flew in personally to lay the last plank on 16 October 1965. The runway was functional before many of the base's other buildings had roofs. War has its own logic about priorities.

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Image: U.S. Army | Public domain

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/j/s/cam-ranh-base-wp/w6js-cam-ranh-base-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Cam Ranh Base: The Bay That Empires Noticed https://qualla.com/cam-ranh-base/ Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. Cam Ranh Bay is a natural deep-water harbor, sheltered by a narrow peninsula that makes it one of the finest anchorages in Southeast Asia. The French understood this. The Japanese understood this. The Americans, arriving in force in 1965, understood it with the full weight of an ...

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Image: U.S. Navy | Public domain

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/j/s/cam-ranh-base-wp/w6js-cam-ranh-base-the-bay-that-empires-noticed.mp3 0:06 2 full Cam Ranh Base: The VC Sapper and the Ghost Town https://qualla.com/cam-ranh-base/ Photo credit Yoichi Okamoto, Public domain. The base survived years of combat operations but could not survive the war's end. On 25 August 1971, Viet Cong sappers penetrated the base's perimeter and detonated the tri-service ammunition storage area — destroying more than 6,000 tons of munitions worth over $10 million in a ...

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Image: Yoichi Okamoto | Public domain

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/j/s/cam-ranh-base-wp/w6js-cam-ranh-base-the-vc-sapper-and-the-ghost-town.mp3 0:06 3 full Cam Ranh Base: The Red Star Over Cam Ranh https://qualla.com/cam-ranh-base/ Photo credit Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. U.S. Marine Corps. 9/18/1947, Public domain. Four years later, the Soviet Union arrived. In 1979, Vietnam leased Cam Ranh to the Soviet Navy rent-free under a 25-year treaty — an arrangement that transformed the harbor into the largest Soviet naval base for forward deployment outside the Warsaw Pact. The Soviets added five ...

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Image: Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. U.S. Marine Corps. 9/18/1947 | Public domain

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/j/s/cam-ranh-base-wp/w6js-cam-ranh-base-the-red-star-over-cam-ranh.mp3 0:06 4 full Cam Ranh Base: The Long Afterlife https://qualla.com/cam-ranh-base/ Photo credit ВладЪ, CC BY-SA 3.0. Today Cam Ranh is a civilian airport and a minor Vietnamese military installation. Cam Ranh International Airport (IATA: CXR) received its first commercial flight on 19 May 2004, after major reconstruction. The Vietnam People's Air Force bases its 920th Training Squadron here. Th...

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Image: ВладЪ | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/j/s/cam-ranh-base-wp/w6js-cam-ranh-base-the-long-afterlife.mp3 0:06 5 full