Realm of the Golden Dragon

Realm of the Golden Dragon is a sea story. On 17 August 1967, after many years of being home ported in Hawaii, the 180-foot Coast Guard Cutter Basswood set sail for her new home port on Guam in the Marianas Islands. During her travels, she would unleash sixty fun-loving, frolicking, fornicating, fighting, young Coasties on forty-seven Pacific Islands and five Asian Nations. This epic voyage would take them to the hooker bars and short-time hotels of Olongapo in the Philippines, the Vietcong infested bays and rivers of Vietnam, and the vaunted Namenoue Red Light District in Naha, Okinawa. They would look in wonder at the temples of Bangkok, Thailand and explore the back streets of Keelung Harbor in Taiwan. Then they would sail to islands in the Pacific so remote that they have been virtually untouched by modern civilization. Travel along with these young Coast Guard Sailors as they experience the rigors of going to sea on a small ship and as they enjoy the pleasure of wild Pacific Island girls and porcelain skinned Asian beauties. And when they lose one of their own, discover the fortunes of war.