South Vietnamese Navy
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The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; ; ''HQVNCH'') was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former
Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
(or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France; after 1955, and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States. With American assistance, in 1972 the VNN became the largest
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
n navy and, by some estimates, the fourth largest navy in the world, just behind the Soviet Union, the United States and the People's Republic of China, with 42,000 personnel, 672 amphibious ships and craft, 20 mine warfare vessels, 450 patrol craft, 56 service craft, and 242 junks. Other sources state that VNN was the ninth largest navy in the world. The Republic of Vietnam Navy was responsible for the protection of the country's national waters, islands, and interests of its maritime economy, as well as for the co-ordination of maritime police, customs service and the maritime border defence force. The Republic of Vietnam Navy disbanded in 1975 with the collapse of South Vietnam, and
North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
's victory in the Vietnam War. Most of its fleet was captured in port, but a small fleet of vessels, led by Captain Đỗ Kiếm and
Richard L. Armitage Richard Lee Armitage (born April 26, 1945) is an American former diplomat and government official. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Armitage served as a U.S. Navy officer in three combat tours of duty in the Vietnam War as a river ...
of the Defense Attaché Office, Saigon, escaped to Thailand and surrendered themselves to American naval forces there. Some of these RVNN vessels were scuttled upon reaching the open sea, while others continued their service with the
Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) ( tgl, Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, , Sea Army of the Philippines) ( es, Armada de Filipinas, , Ejército del Mar de las Filipinas) is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an e ...
. __TOC__


History


Foundation

The origins of the Viet Nam Navy (VNN) began in 1952 with the
French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
. In 1954, following the
Élysée Accords The Elysée Accords were an agreement signed at the Élysée Palace on March 9, 1949 by ex-emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another t ...
, the French handed control of the armed forces to the Vietnamese, but at the Vietnamese government's request, continued to be in charge of the Navy until 20 August 1955. By this time the Navy numbered about 2,000 personnel, with 22 vessels. The Vietnamese then received assistance in the development of the VNN from the United States
Military Assistance Advisory Group Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) is a designation for United States military advisors sent to other countries to assist in the training of conventional armed forces and facilitate military aid. Although numerous MAAGs operated around ...
.


Coastal Force

In 1956, the
North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
ese began infiltrating men and arms into the
Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
's territory by sea. In response the VNN created the Coastal
Junk Force The Junk Force ( vi, Lực Lượng Hải Thuyền) officially the Coastal Force was a naval security unit of the Republic of Vietnam, composed of civilians trained by the Navy and working in conjunction with the Republic of Vietnam National Poli ...
( vi, Lực Lượng Hãi Thuyền) of
junks A junk (Chinese: 船, ''chuán'') is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: northern junk, which developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk, which developed from Austronesian ...
manned by Regional Irregular Forces and local fishermen recruited for the occasion, to patrol the waters around the
Demilitarized Zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or bounda ...
. The force later came to be known as Coastal Groups ( vi, Duyên đoàn), and patrolled the entire coastline. This force was under the control of the regional military zone commands rather than the Navy, and was not incorporated into the VNN until 1965, by which time it numbered over 100 vessels.


Expansion of the VNN

In the late 1950s, the Vietnam Navy was being modernized and developed, receiving ships and training from the United States Navy. By 1961, the VNN had a force of 23 ships, the largest of which were LSMs, 197 boats, and 5,000 men. This was insufficient to counter the growing threat of enemy infiltration and the years 1962-1964 were marked by a rapid expansion; training facilities, repair bases, and support facilities were established; communications equipment and networks improved; organization and administrative procedures strengthened. The number of ships increased to 44 and the number of personnel to 8,100. This process continued and by the end of 1967, the personnel strength of the VNN had increased to 16,300, with 65 ships, along with 232 vessels of the River Assault Group (RAG), 290 junks, and 52 miscellaneous craft. Throughout 1968, the VNN gave priority to the improvement and expansion of their training programs in anticipation of gaining increased responsibility in the war effort as well as additional assets from the US. By the end of 1968, plans for the turnover of the majority of the United States Navy assets in Vietnam had been formulated.


Politics and coups

VNN commander Captain Hồ Tấn Quyền, was a loyal supporter of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Ngô Đình Diệm Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of ...
. In order to prevent him supporting Diệm in the
1963 South Vietnamese coup In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm and the Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of both the Buddhist crisis and the V ...
, he was executed by fellow VNN officers on the morning of 1 November 1963. During the
1965 South Vietnamese coup On February 19, 1965, some units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam commanded by General Lâm Văn Phát and Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo launched a coup against General Nguyễn Khánh, the head of South Vietnam's ruling military junta. The ...
, rebel forces surrounded the VNN headquarters at the
Saigon Naval Shipyard Saigon Naval Shipyard is a former French Navy, Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN) and Vietnam People's Navy (VPN) base in Saigon Vietnam. The base, located on the southwest bank of the Saigon River about from the South China Sea, represented the l ...
, apparently in an attempt to capture VNN commander
Chung Tấn Cang Admiral Chung Tấn Cang (July 22, 1926, Gia Định – January 24, 2007, Bakersfield, California) was a commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy between 1963 and 1965. Cang took command in November 1963 after Captain Hồ Tấn Quyền, a ...
. However, this was unsuccessful and Cang moved the fleet to
Nhà Bè Base Nhà Bè Base (also known as Nhà Bè Naval Support Activity or Nhà Bè Logistics Support Base) is a former U.S. Navy and Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN) base in Nhà Bè District in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) of Vietnam now used as a base by ...
to prevent the rebels from seizing the ships.


Vietnamization

In early 1969, President Richard M. Nixon formally adopted the policy of "
Vietnamization Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnamese forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same ti ...
". The naval part, called ACTOV ("Accelerated Turnover to the Vietnamese"), involved the phased transfer to Vietnam of the U.S. river and coastal fleet, as well as operational command over various operations. In mid-1969, the VNN took sole responsibility for river assault operations when the U.S.
Mobile Riverine Force In the Vietnam War, the Mobile Riverine Force (MRF) (after May 1967), initially designated Mekong Delta Mobile Afloat Force, and later the Riverines, were a joint US Army and US Navy force that comprised a substantial part of the brown-water n ...
stood down and transferred 64 riverine assault craft to the VNN. On 10 October 1969, 80
Patrol Boat, River Patrol Boat, Riverine, or PBR, is the United States Navy designation for a small rigid- hulled patrol boat used in the Vietnam War from March 1966 until 1975. They were deployed in a force that grew to 250 boats, the most common craft in the ...
s (PBR) were transferred to the VNN at the Saigon Naval Shipyard, the PBRs were divided into four River Patrol Groups (RPGs) as part of Task Force 212. By the end of 1970, the U.S. Navy ceased all operations throughout South Vietnam, having transferred a total of 293 PBRs and 224 riverine assault craft to the VNN. During 1970 and 1971, the United States also relinquished control of the coastal and high seas patrols to the VNN. The U.S. naval command also transferred four Coast Guard cutters, a destroyer escort radar picket ship, an LST, and various harbor control, mine craft, and support vessels. By August 1972, the VNN took responsibility for the entire coastal patrol effort when it took over the last 16 U.S. coastal radar installations. In addition to ships and vessels, the U.S. transferred support bases. The first change of command occurred in November 1969 at
Mỹ Tho Mỹ Tho () is a city in the Tiền Giang province in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam. It has a population of approximately 169,000 in 2006 and 220,000 in 2012. It is the regional center of economics, education and technology. The majorit ...
, and the last in April 1972 at Nhà Bè, Bình Thủy,
Cam Ranh Bay Cam Ranh Bay ( vi, Vịnh Cam Ranh) is a deep-water bay in Vietnam in Khánh Hòa Province. It is located at an inlet of the South China Sea situated on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, between Phan Rang and Nha Trang, approximately 290 kilom ...
, and
Đà Nẵng Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is on ...
. By 1973, the Vietnam Navy numbered 42,000 men and over 1,400 ships and vessels.


The end

In 1973 and 1974, as a result of the
Paris Peace Accords The Paris Peace Accords, () officially titled the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam (''Hiệp định về chấm dứt chiến tranh, lập lại hòa bình ở Việt Nam''), was a peace treaty signed on January 27, 1 ...
, the United States drastically cut its financial support for the Vietnamese armed forces. The VNN was compelled to reduce its overall operations by half, and its river combat and patrol activities by 70%. To conserve supplies, over 600 river and harbor craft and 22 ships were laid up. On 19 January 1974, four VNN ships fought a battle with four ships of the Chinese
People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese ...
over ownership of the
Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...
, due east of Đà Nẵng. The VNN ship ''Nhựt Tảo'' (HQ-10) was sunk, was heavily damaged, and both ''Trần Khánh Dư'' (HQ-4) and ''Trần Bình Trọng'' (HQ-5) suffered light damage. The Chinese captured and occupied the islands. In the spring of 1975, North Vietnamese forces occupied all of northern and central South Vietnam, and finally Saigon fell on 30 April 1975. However, Captain
Kiem Do Đỗ Kiếm, writing as Kiem Do (Hanoi, 1933) is a former officer of the Republic of Vietnam Navy, who was serving as Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) when Saigon fell in 1975. He secretly organised the evacuation of over 30,000 refugees aboa ...
had secretly planned and then carried out the evacuation of a flotilla of thirty-five Vietnam Navy and other vessels, with 30,000 sailors, their families, and other civilians on board, and joined the
U.S. Seventh Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of th ...
when it sailed for
Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...
, Philippines. Most of the Vietnamese ships were later taken into the
Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) ( tgl, Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, , Sea Army of the Philippines) ( es, Armada de Filipinas, , Ejército del Mar de las Filipinas) is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an e ...
, though the LSM ''Lam Giang'' (HQ-402), fuel barge ''HQ-474'', and gunboat ''Kéo Ngựa'' (HQ-604) were scuttled after reaching the open sea and transferring their cargo of refugees and their crews to other ships. After the war, about 1,300 former VNN vessels including
junks A junk (Chinese: 船, ''chuán'') is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: northern junk, which developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk, which developed from Austronesian ...
were used by the
Vietnam People's Navy The Vietnam People's Navy (VPN; vi, Hải quân nhân dân Việt Nam), or the Naval Service (), also known as the Vietnamese People's Navy or simply Vietnam/Vietnamese Navy (), is the naval branch of the Vietnam People's Army and is responsi ...
, making it the largest Southeast Asian navy in the mid-1980s. Some personnel were retained, with 80% of the Ham Tu Brigade in the VPN’s Bach Dang Fleet being South Vietnamese veterans. Cima, R.J (1987). Vietnam: A Country Study. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. p. 279.


Organization


Fleet Command

VNN Fleet Command was directly responsible to the VNN Chief of Naval Operations for the readiness of ships and craft. The Fleet Commander assigned and scheduled ships to operate in the Coastal Zones, Riverine Areas, and the
Rung Sat Special Zone Rung Sat Special Zone (Vietnamese: ''Đặc khu Rừng Sác'') was the name given during the Vietnam War by the South Vietnam Government and American forces to a large area of the Sác Forest (Vietnamese ''Rừng Sác''), which is today known as th ...
. All Fleet Command ships were home ported in Saigon and normally returned there after deployments. When deployed, operational control was assumed by the respective zone or area commander, and the ships operated from the following ports: * I Coastal Zone –
Đà Nẵng Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is on ...
* II Coastal Zone –
Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hòa District, Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh Distri ...
/
Qui Nhơn Quy Nhon ( vi, Quy Nhơn ) is a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of . Quy Nhon is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2019 its population was 457,400. Hi ...
* III Coastal Zone –
Vũng Tàu Vũng Tàu (''Hanoi accent:'' , ''Saigon accent:'' ) is the largest city of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in southern Vietnam. The city area is , consists of 13 urban wards and one commune of Long Sơn Islet. Vũng Tàu was the capital of the pr ...
/
Cần Thơ Cần Thơ, also written as Can Tho or Cantho (: , : ), is the fourth-largest city in Vietnam, and the largest city along the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam. It is noted for its floating markets, rice paper-making village, and picturesque rur ...
/ Châu Đức * IV Coastal Zone – An Thoi/
Phú Quốc Phú Quốc () is the largest island in Vietnam. Phú Quốc and nearby islands, along with the distant Thổ Chu Islands, are part of Kiên Giang Province as Phú Quốc City, the island has a total area of and a permanent population of appro ...
*
Rung Sat Special Zone Rung Sat Special Zone (Vietnamese: ''Đặc khu Rừng Sác'') was the name given during the Vietnam War by the South Vietnam Government and American forces to a large area of the Sác Forest (Vietnamese ''Rừng Sác''), which is today known as th ...
Nhà Bè


Flotillas

The VNN was organized into two flotillas: a patrol flotilla and a logistics flotilla. Flotilla I was composed of patrol ships, organized into four squadrons. The patrol types included LSSLs and LSILs which normally operated only in Riverine Areas or the Rung Sat Special Zone; though occasionally they were assigned the four coastal zones. Operational commitments required that half of the patrol flotilla be deployed at all times, with a boat typically spending 40 to 50 days at sea on each patrol. Fleet Command patrol ships assigned to the riverine areas provided
naval gunfire support Naval gunfire support (NGFS) (also known as shore bombardment) is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of a number of disciplines encompassed by th ...
as well as patrolling the main waterways in the riverine areas. One river patrol unit was assigned as convoy escort on the
Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...
River to and from the
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
n border. Flotilla II was composed of logistic ships, divided into two squadrons, supporting the naval units and bases throughout South Vietnam. Logistic ships were under the administrative control of the Fleet Commander, and under the operational control of the VNN Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics who acted upon orders from the Central Logistics Command of the Joint General Staff.


UDT


Training

The VNN training establishment consisted of a Training Bureau located at VNN Headquarters, with Training Centers located in Saigon,
Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hòa District, Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh Distri ...
, and
Cam Ranh Bay Cam Ranh Bay ( vi, Vịnh Cam Ranh) is a deep-water bay in Vietnam in Khánh Hòa Province. It is located at an inlet of the South China Sea situated on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, between Phan Rang and Nha Trang, approximately 290 kilom ...
.


Saigon naval shipyard

The Saigon Naval Shipyard, located on the southwest bank of the
Saigon River The Saigon River ( vi, Sông Sài Gòn) is a river located in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung in southeastern Cambodia, flows south and south-southeast for about and empties into the Soài Rạp, which in its turn empties into th ...
about from the
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
, represented the largest single industrial complex in South East Asia. The shipyard had been created by the French in 1863 as a major repair and resupply base. In 1969, 1,800 men were employed there, repairing and overhauling vessels, enabling the VNN to maintain its continuous patrols of the coast.


Ranks and insignia


Commanders of the VNN

* Commander (later Navy Captain) Lê Quang Mỹ, 1955–57 * Commander Trần Văn Chơn, 1957–59 * Navy Captain Hồ Tấn Quyền, 1959–63 * Navy Captain (later Vice Admiral)
Chung Tấn Cang Admiral Chung Tấn Cang (July 22, 1926, Gia Định – January 24, 2007, Bakersfield, California) was a commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy between 1963 and 1965. Cang took command in November 1963 after Captain Hồ Tấn Quyền, a ...
, 1963–65 * Navy Captain Trần Văn Phấn, 1965–66 * Lieutenant General
Cao Văn Viên Cao Văn Viên (December 21, 1921 – January 22, 2008) was one of only two South Vietnamese four-star army generals in the history of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He rose to the position of Chairman of the Sou ...
, September – November 1966 - Temporary after Coup d'État * Navy Captain (later Rear Admiral) Trần Văn Chơn, 1966–74 * Rear Admiral
Lâm Ngươn Tánh Rear Admiral Lâm Ngươn Tánh (18 October 1928, in Sadec, French Cochinchina, Cochinchina – 11 February 2018) was the last Chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Vietnam Navy during the Vietnam War. Biography In 1974, he took part in t ...
, for 2 months between 1974 and 1975 * Vice Admiral
Chung Tấn Cang Admiral Chung Tấn Cang (July 22, 1926, Gia Định – January 24, 2007, Bakersfield, California) was a commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy between 1963 and 1965. Cang took command in November 1963 after Captain Hồ Tấn Quyền, a ...
, 24 March – 29 April 1975


See also

* Ships of the Republic of Vietnam Navy *
Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April ...
*
Republic of Vietnam Military Forces The Republic of Vietnam Military Forces (RVNMF; – QLVNCH), were the official armed defense forces of the defunct Republic of Vietnam and was responsible for the defense of the state since its independence from France in October 1955 to its de ...
*
Republic of Vietnam Air Force The South Vietnam Air Force, officially the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF; vi, Không lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa, KLVNCH; french: Force aérienne vietnamienne, FAVN) (sometimes referred to as the Vietnam Air Force or VNAF) was the aer ...
*
Republic of Vietnam Marine Division The Republic of Vietnam Marine Division (RVNMD, vi, Sư Đoàn Thủy Quân Lục Chiến QLC was part of the armed forces of South Vietnam. It was established by Ngo Dinh Diem in 1954 when he was Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, which be ...
*
Royal Lao Navy The Royal Lao Navy ( lo, ກອງທັບເຣືອພຣະຣາຊອານາຈັກລາວ; french: Marine Royale Laotienne – MRL) was the naval component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Royal Lao ...
*
Khmer National Navy The Khmer National Navy ( km, កងទ័ពជើងទឹកជាតិខ្មែរ; french: Marine nationale khmère, MNK) was the naval component of the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK), the official military of the Khmer Republic d ...


References


Bibliography

* * ''This article incorporates material translated from the corresponding page in the Vietnamese Wikipedia.''


External links


US Naval Historical Center : Navy of the Republic of Vietnam


{{Authority control * Disbanded navies Military units and formations established in 1952 Military units and formations disestablished in 1975