What the official feature says
The official Vietnam game page confirms that both sides can use heavily armed patrol boats in the river network. That establishes the faction access, armed purpose and river setting. It does not provide a complete boat roster, crew limit, weapon table or speed value in the supplied material.
The most reliable answer is therefore that patrol boats are part of the combined-arms battlefield, not a decorative water feature. They can give a squad another route for pressure or movement when the objective and terrain make the river relevant. The live game should answer the exact handling question.
Read boats through the objective
A boat is useful when it supports the current squad plan. Warfare is confirmed as a five-sector tug-of-war, while Offensive divides the battle into attack and defence, so the river route matters because of the objective on its far side or along its edge. The supplied sources do not confirm a universal boat route or mode restriction.
Before moving onto the water, ask what the squad is trying to pressure, support or reach. Communicate the intent, observe the live map and avoid treating the boat as a solo sightseeing trip. A team vehicle becomes valuable when its movement is legible to the rest of the unit.
Boats and Vietnam mobility
The official feature page describes patrol boats alongside US helicopters, NVA tunnel networks, swimming, climbing and fast crawling. Together, those systems give the setting several movement and support layers. The page confirms the broad interactions but does not publish exact water depth, route length, vehicle durability or boarding rules.
That means a player should learn the purpose first and the execution second. A boat can change where pressure arrives, while a helicopter can add fire support or supply drops, and a tunnel can create an unexpected approach. The right choice depends on the squad objective and the current match.
What is not verified
The collected boat material contains videos and community discussion, but it does not provide a single official technical specification covering all patrol boats. This page therefore omits exact boat names, weapon counts, crew numbers, speed, health and damage values. Those details may be useful to players, but they need a source stronger than an unverified transcript.
The same boundary applies to claims about which faction always wins on water or which route is best. Community experience can be labelled as opinion in a future update, but it should not be written as a fact in this source-first page. The official confirmation remains river use by both sides with armed patrol boats.
A careful first river run
Learn the basic objective and squad communication before taking a boat into a live match. Then confirm the current handling and communicate where the movement is meant to support. If the boat cannot help the objective, return to the squad plan rather than forcing a river route.
For a wider picture, combine this page with the maps, vehicles and mode guides. The site intentionally leaves out a full map-name list and unsupported numerical vehicle data, but it keeps the confirmed relationship between rivers, patrol boats and team objectives visible. That is the useful foundation for later verified updates.