While 34A and the Desoto patrols were independent operations, the latter benefited from the increased signals traffic generated by the attacks of the former. Forty-five minutes after beginning their attack, the commandos withdrew. Navy, Of course, none of this was known to Congress, which demanded an explanation for the goings-on in the Tonkin Gulf. Summary Notes of the 538th Meeting of the NSC, 4 August 1964, 6:15-6:40 p.m.. 13. After the incident, Herrick was unsure that his ships had been attacked, reporting at 1:27 a.m. Washington time that "Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. As the torpedo boats continued their high-speed approach, Maddox was ordered to fire warning shots if they closed inside 10,000 yards. Until the ICC investigation blew over a week later, the commandos camped on a small pier. Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations. Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam, 3 August 1964. Moments later, one of the crewmen spotted a North Vietnamese Swatow patrol boat bearing down on them. Given the maritime nature of the commando raids, which were launched from Da Nang, the bulk of the intelligence collecting fell to the Navy. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. WebOn August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin Incident - ThoughtCo "The North Vietnamese are reacting defensively to our attacks on their offshore islands. . Related:LBJ knew the Vietnam War was a disaster in the making. WebMany historians now agree that the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which many believed North Vietnamese ships had attacked American naval forces, may not have occurred in the way it was described at the time. Carl Schuster is a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer with 10 years of experience as a surface line officer. IV-2 to IV-4. In July, General Westmoreland asked that Desoto patrols be expanded to cover 34A missions from Vinh Son north to the islands of Hon Me, Hon Nieu, and Hon Mat, all of which housed North Vietnamese radar installations or other coastwatching equipment. 3. The attack is a signal to us that the North Vietnamese have the will and determination to continue the war." McNamara was ready to respond. Gulf of Tonkin - Wikipedia Nigerians await election results in competitive race. A firewall existed between covert patrol-boat attacks on North Vietnamese positions and Desoto patrols eavesdropping on shore-based communications. It is not NSA's intention to prove or This mission coincided with several 34A attacks, including an Aug. 1 raid on Hon Me and Hon Ngu Islands. Until 1964, Desoto patrols stayed at least 20 miles away from the coast. . Four boats, PTF-1, PTF-2 (the American-made patrol boats), PTF-5, and PTF-6 (Nasty boats), were on their way to bombard a North Vietnamese radar installation at Vinh Son and a security post on the banks of the nearby Ron River, both about 90 miles north of the DMZ. No one was hurt and little damage wasdone in the attack, but intercepted cables suggested a second attack might be imminent. Both sides claimed successes in the exchange that they did not actually achieve. These types of patrols had previously been conducted off the coasts of the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea. The Taliban silenced him. JCS, "34A Chronology of Events," (see Marolda and Fitzgerald, p. 424); Porter. Both countries were backing North Vietnam, but so far they were staying out of the conflict and the White House wanted to keep it that way. By then, early news accounts had already solidified some opinions, and the Johnson Administration had decided to launch retaliatory strikes. Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964) | National Archives AIDS Brotherhood Symbology The Illuminati Flame . Gulf Of Tonkin Gulf of Tonkin incident - Wikipedia The Maddox was attacked at 1600. 313-314. Suddenly, North Vietnamese guns opened fire from the shore. WebCongress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution before the United States' withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973. Nonetheless, the North Vietnamese boats continued to close in at the rate of 400 yards per minute. Both the Phu Bai station and Maddoxs DSU knew the boats had orders to attack an enemy ship., Not knowing about the South Vietnamese commando raid, all assumed that Maddox was the target. One of the great ironies of the Gulf of Tonkin incident for President Johnson is that it was for him, politically, a great success, he continues. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - Definition, Cause & Significance The stage was set. You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Naval History this month. Conspiracy Soon came a second more sinister interpretation -- that the incident was a conspiracy not only provoked by the Johnson administration but one in fact "scenarioed." Hanoi was more than willing to tell the world about the attacks, and it took either a fool or an innocent to believe that the United States knew nothing about the raids. The departure of the North Vietnamese salvage tug en route to the damaged craft was reported to the American ships as a submarine chaser, not a serious threat but certainly more so than an unarmed seagoing tug. Quoted in Steve Edwards, "Stalking the Enemys Coast," U.S. The Geneva Conference in 1954 was intended to settle outstanding issues following the end of hostilities between France and the Viet Minh at the end of the First Indochina War. A North Vietnamese patrol boat also trailed the American ships, reporting on their movements to Haiphong. No actual visual sightings by Maddox.". Around midday on Aug. 4, Adm. Grant Sharp, the top navy commander in the Pacific, made a call to the Joint Chiefs, and it was clear there were significant doubts about this second incident. Under cover of darkness, four boats (PTF-2, PTF-3, PTF-5, and PTF-6) left Da Nang, racing north up the coast toward the demilitarized zone (DMZ), then angling farther out to sea as they left the safety of South Vietnamese waters.2 About five hours later they neared their objective: the offshore islands of Hon Me and Hon Nieu. Changing course in time to evade the torpedoes, the Maddox again was attacked, this time by a boat that fired another torpedo and 14.5-mm machine guns. Speculation about administration motives surrounding the Tonkin Gulf incident itself and the subsequent withholding of key information will probably never cease, but the factual intelligence record that drove those decisions is now clear. Carl Otis Schuster, U.S. Navy (ret.) He headed seaward hoping to avoid a confrontation until daybreak, then returned to the coast at 1045, this time north of Hon Me. 9. Like all intelligence, it must be analyzed and reported in context. The reports conclusions about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident are particularly relevant as they offer useful insights into the problems that SIGINT faces today in These warning shots were fired and the P-4s launched a torpedo attack. Even in the darkness, the commandos could see their targeta water tower surrounded by a few military buildings. This time, however, President Johnson reacted much more skeptically and ultimately decided to take no retaliatory action. Just before midnight, the four boats cut their engines. After the Tonkin Gulf incident, the State Department cabled Seaborn, instructing him to tell the North Vietnamese that "neither the Maddox or any other destroyer was in any way associated with any attack on the DRV [Democratic Republic of Vietnam, or North Vietnam] islands." Although McNamara did not know it at the time, part of his statement was not true; Captain Herrick, the Desoto patrol commander, did know about the 34A raids, something that his ships logs later made clear. LBJ was looking for a pretext to go to Congress to ask for a resolution that would give him the authority to do basically whatever the hell he wanted to do in Vietnam, without the intense public debate that a declaration of war would have required, says historian Chris Oppe. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/vietnam-war-gulf-of-tonkin-incident-2361345. Gulf of Tonkin Conspiracy Theory The Secret Side of the Tonkin Gulf Incident, 2. Background intelligence on North Vietnam, its radar networks and command-and-control systems was limited. Subscribe now and never hit a limit. The SIGINT intercepts also detected that the North Vietnamese coastal radar stations were tracking Maddox and reporting its movements to the outbound torpedo boats. During May, Admiral U. S. G. Sharp, the Pacific Fleet Commander-in-Chief, had suggested that 34A raids could be coordinated "with the operation of a shipboard radar to reduce the possibility of North Vietnamese radar detection of the delivery vehicle." the Gulf of Tonkin A distinction is made in these pages between the Aug. 2 "naval engagement" and the somewhat more ambiguous Aug. 4 "naval action," although Marolda and Fitzgerald make it clear they accept that the Aug. 4 action left one and possibly two North Vietnamese torpedo-firing boats sunk or dead in the water. Suns and Stars Covert maritime operations were in full swing, and some of the missions succeeded in blowing up small installations along the coast, leading General Westmoreland to conclude that any close connection between 34A and Desoto would destroy the thin veneer of deniability surrounding the operations. 1. However, planes from the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga (CVA-14) crippled one of the boats and damaged the other two. Was the collapse of the Twin Towers on 911 terrorism are a controlled demolition. He spoke out against banning girls education. During the afternoon of 3 August, another maritime team headed north from Da Nang. 8. Forty-eight hours earlier, on Aug. 2, two US destroyers on patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin the Maddox and the Turner Joy were attacked by North Vietnamese boats. They arrived on station overhead by 2100 hours. ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/vietnam-war-gulf-of-tonkin-incident-2361345. Quoted in Steve Edwards, "Stalking the Enemys Coast," U.S.
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