Trần Văn Chơn

Trần Văn Chơn
Trần Văn Chơn
	Republic of Vietnam
Service/branch	Republic of Vietnam Navy
Years of service	1952–1974
Rank	Vice admiral (phó đô đốc)
Commands held	Republic of Vietnam Navy (1966-74); Republic of Vietnam Navy (1957-9)

Trần Văn Chơn (24 September 1920 – 2 May 2019) was a Vice Admiral of the Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN) and commander of the RVNN from 1966 to 1974.

Early life

He was born on 24 September 1920 to a well-off family in

Saigon.^[1]

Military career

In late 1951, he was recruited from the merchant shipping into the naval branch of the Vietnamese National Army. On 1 January 1952 he joined the first course of the Nha Trang Naval Officer training with six cadets in command and three cadets in mechanical engineering. All cadets joined the French aircraft carrier Arromanches for professional training, then rotated through the far eastern warships of the French Navy. In July 1952, his course returned to Nha Trang to continue training. On 1 October 1952 he graduated valedictorian with the rank of Second lieutenant.^[2] After graduation, he was deployed to serve in the Volunteer Squadron and assigned to command 4th Airlift Center with the task of paving roads, clearing mines and patrolling.

In early October 1953, he was promoted to HQ Lieutenant as deputy commander of the river assault group in Vĩnh Long. In early 1954, he was transferred north to take command of the Ninh Giang river assault group. In June of the same year, Ninh Giang group moved south, based at Mỹ Tho and renamed Mỹ Tho river assault group, commanded by Captain Le Quang My.

In 1955, with the change from the National Army naval branch to the Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN), he was promoted to HQ Captain and appointed Assistant Commander of the Landing Craft Support Linh Kiem HQ-226. At the end of August 1955, he was appointed commander of the Giang Corps Force replacing Navy Major Le Quang My who was appointed RVNN commander.

In April 1956, he was promoted to HQ Major in charge. In early 1957, he was appointed RVNN commander to replace HQ Colonel Le Quang My and he concurrently served as director of the Saigon Naval Shipyard. In mid-1958, he received orders to hand over the position of director of the shipyard to Colonel Nguyen Phat.

In June 1959, he was ordered to hand over the post of RVNN commander to Lieutenant Commander

Popular Forces from 1962 until 1966.^[2]

On 1 November 1966, he was promoted to Navy Colonel and reassigned as RVNN commander replacing the acting commander, ARVN Lieutenant General Cao Văn Viên.^[2] On 19 June 1968, he was promoted to the rank of Commodore, the rank of Brigadier General in office. On 1 November 1970, he was promoted to the rank of Commodore, the rank of Major General in office. On 1 November 1974, he was discharged due to his age after more than 20 years of military service. He handed over the position of Commander of the Navy to his former deputy, Commodore Major General Lâm Ngươn Tánh.