"USS Richard S. Edwards USS ""Richard S. Edwards"" (DD-950), named for Admiral Richard Stanislaus Edwards USN (1885–1956), was a Forrest Sherman class destroyer built by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company at Seattle, Washington and launched on 24 September 1957 by Mrs. W. B. Franke; and commissioned 5 February 1959, Comdr. Richard R. Law in command. ""Richard S. Edwards"" served as plane guard for carriers on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in Sea Dragon operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out Naval Gunfire Support missions during the Vietnam War and underwent an ASW modernization"
"new levels and lead to the full scale Americanization of the war. On the evening of August 2, 1964, the destroyer was conducting an electronic intelligence collection mission in international waters (even as claimed by North Vietnam) in the Gulf of Tonkin when it was attacked by three P-4 torpedo boats of the North Vietnamese Navy. Reports later reached the Johnson administration saying that the ""Maddox"" was under attack. Two nights later, after being joined by the destroyer ""C. Turner Joy"", the ""Maddox"" again reported that both vessels were under attack. Regardless, President Johnson addressed Congress asking for more political"
"When not deployed to the Far East, she conducted training operations, upkeep, and repairs. In March 1964, she embarked upon her third deployment to the western Pacific since being recommissioned. That deployment began routinely enough with fleet exercises in May and calls at Japanese, Taiwanese, Malaysian, and Philippine ports. However, in August, North Vietnamese torpedo-boats attacked on the 2nd and then returned to attack ""Maddox"" and . This action, known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident, gave the remaining part of ""Topeka""s deployment a more wartime character. ""Topeka"" cruised the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin while American involvement in"
"while flying above the cloud cover. Both sides violated the Geneva Accords. On 2 August 1964, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurred. An alleged attack by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on American destroyer, USS Maddox DD-731]. The misinterpreted incident took place in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. President Johnson used the flawed information about the incident to order additional forces to the area to support the government of South Vietnam.(https://m.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2008-02/truth-about-tonkinAdditional) USAF forces were dispatched to Thailand. This marked the beginning of large scale United States military operations in Southeast Asia. Thailand was a member of"
"in Asia"" and expand the war to North Vietnam and Laos. The first Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred in territorial waters off the coast of North Vietnam. The destroyer USS Maddox, performing a DESOTO patrol, was engaged by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron. In the ensuing sea battle, the ""Maddox"" expended over 280 3"" and 5"" shells, and four United States Navy F8 Crusader jet fighter bombers strafed the Vietnamese. There was damage to one US aircraft, one 14.5mm hit on the destroyer, 3 damaged torpedo boats, 4 North Vietnamese sailors killed and 6"
"North Vietnamese all at once? All while trying to advise and train the South Vietnamese troops and failing to bring them substantial victories on the battlefield. In 1964, the Gulf of Tonkin incident sparks the beginning of major U.S involvement. While off the coast of North Vietnam, the U.S.S Maddox got into a gunfight with three North Vietnamese boats. The U.S.S Maddox is reported to have fired warning shots at the boats telling them to stay away. The boats then attacked the Maddox, opening up with machine gun fire and sending torpedoes. The Maddox retaliated, hitting all three boats. From"
"on August 4, 1964 in the second Gulf of Tonkin Incident. ""Absolutely nothing"", Giáp replied. Giáp claimed that the attack had been imaginary. The outcome of these two incidents was the passage by Congress of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by ""communist aggression"". The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for deploying U.S. conventional forces and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam. In 2005, an internal National Security Agency historical study was declassified; it concluded that ""Maddox"""
"second attack occurred when North Vietnamese Navy vessels fired torpedoes at the USS ""Maddox"" and . In response to the second ""unprovoked attack"" on U.S. warships, on 7 August 1964 the United States Congress unanimously passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which gave President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to deploy conventional U.S. military forces in Southeast Asia to ""prevent further aggression"" from North Vietnamese forces, without the formal declaration of war by the Congress. Even though Johnson had been given a mandate to take military action against North Vietnam and their Viet Cong allies in South Vietnam, he hesitated to"
"on her way west, the destroyer joined a task group built around ""Kitty Hawk"" (CVA-63) for operations in the Philippine Sea, followed by a cruise through the South China Sea to Japan. Further training operations and port visits ensued, as the deployment continued peacefully. During late July 1964, ""Turner Joy"", while attached to a carrier task group built around ""Ticonderoga"", began making ""watch dog"" patrols off the coast of Vietnam where a vicious guerrilla war had been raging at varying levels of intensity since the end of World War II. In the afternoon of 2 August 1964, ""Maddox"" (DD-731), engaged"
"By the time she reached ""Maddox"", the torpedo boats were no longer in the area. On 3 August 1964, the ""Turner Joy"" was ordered to accompany the ""Maddox"" for another DESOTO mission, on 4 August ""Turner Joy""’s radar screens picked up a number of what appeared to be small, high-speed surface craft approaching, but at extreme range. As a precaution, the two destroyers called upon ""Ticonderoga"" to furnish air support. By nightfall, the unidentified radar echoes suggested that PRVN torpedo boats were converging upon the two American warships from the west and south. ""Turner Joy"" reported that she sighted one—maybe"
"1964, ""Samuel N. Moore"" was away from Long Beach on another deployment to the western Pacific. In August, during the crisis following the Gulf of Tonkin incident, ""Samuel N. Moore"" supplied ammunition to the destroyer , and transferred documents from ""Maddox"" and to . Sailing from the West Coast for the western Pacific on 28 September 1965, she provided gunfire support off Vietnam, operated as a plane guard in the South China Sea, and fired on targets in the Mekong Delta, before returning to Long Beach on 8 April. Getting underway again for the western Pacific on 28 March 1967,"
"Gulf again to attack two more US destroyers, only to be promptly sunk by US jets from the aircraft carriers USS ""Constellation"" and USS ""Hancock"". Nineteen PRVN Sailors were taken as Prisoner of War from those sunk torpedo boats, and they made it clear that no PRVN (North Vietnamese) Navy torpedo boats had been sunk in the year 1964. It could well have been that bad weather and """"the Tonkin Ghosts"""" (freakish radar conditions) for which the Gulf of Tonkin is famous, caused radar echoes to appear on ""Turner Joy""'s screen and prompted her captain and crew to take defensive"
"subsequent mission would receive the next letter in an alphabetic sequence. The following table lists the patrols that have been declassified. SIGAD USN-467N specifically designates the DSU aboard during the patrol involved with the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This patrol was 18th DESOTO type patrol (each with a Naval Security Group detachment embarked) conducted since 1962. On August 2, 1964, the destroyer ""Maddox"", engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron. A sea battle resulted, in which ""Maddox"" expended over two hundred and eighty and shells, and in which four USN F-8 Crusader jet fighter bombers"
"on orders from his superiors. His conclusion, there were no attacks on 4 August 1964 against the ""Maddox"" and the ""Turner Joy"". This has been supported by evidence from the Vietnamese since the end of hostilities. In addition, Admiral Moore reported on 7 August 1964 to Admiral Sharpe that ""Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonar men may have accounted for the many reports."" During 1–2 July 1966, the three torpedo boats from PRVN (Peoples Republic of Vietnam) Torpedo Squadron 135; ""T-333"", ""T-336"", and ""T-339"" which had attacked the ""USS Maddox"" on 2 August 1964, came into the Tonkin"
"skirmish, President Johnson ordered ""Maddox"" and ""Turner Joy"" to stage daylight runs into North Vietnamese waters, testing the limit and North Vietnamese resolve. These runs into North Vietnamese territorial waters coincided with South Vietnamese coastal raids and were interpreted as coordinated operations by the North, which officially acknowledged the engagements of August 2, 1964. Others, such as Admiral Sharp, maintained that U.S. actions did not provoke the August 2 incident. He claimed that the North Vietnamese had tracked ""Maddox"" along the coast by radar, and were thus aware that the destroyer had not actually attacked North Vietnam and that Hanoi"
"oil-storage facility in Vinh. Shortly before midnight, on August 4, President Johnson interrupted national television to make an announcement in which he described an attack by North Vietnamese vessels on two U.S. Navy warships, ""Maddox"" and ""Turner Joy"" requested authority to undertake a military response. Johnson's speech repeated the theme that ""dramatized Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh as the aggressor and which put the United States into a more acceptable defensive posture."" Johnson also referred to the attacks as having taken place ""on the high seas,"" suggesting that they had occurred in international waters. He emphasized commitment to both the American people,"
"Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurred. It was a pair of alleged attacks by North Vietnamese gunboats on two US destroyers, the and the , off the North Vietnamese coast in the Gulf of Tonkin. As a result, President Johnson would order more forces to support the South Vietnamese government, and additional USAF forces were dispatched to Thailand, beginning a large scale US military presence in Southeast Asia. In April 1965 the C-123 detachment was redesignated as Detachment 4, 315th Air Division and in September the C-123s were replaced by four C-130s. Also in April a new aerial port squadron, later"
"coast of North Vietnam. This was the first time SOG vessels had attacked North Vietnamese shore facilities by shelling them from the sea. The following afternoon, the destroyer began an electronic intelligence-gathering mission along the coast of North Vietnam, in the Gulf of Tonkin. On the afternoon of 2 August, three s of the Vietnam People's Navy came out from Hon Me and attacked the ""Maddox"". The American vessel was undamaged and the U.S. claimed that one of the attacking vessels had been sunk and that the others were damaged by U.S. carrier-based aircraft. On the night of 3/4 August,"
"John J. Herrick John Jerome Herrick (June 23, 1920 – August 2, 1997) was an officer in the United States Navy who was commander of the U.S.S. Maddox during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August 1964. Herrick gave the order to return fire on three Viet Cong patrol boats. However, In 2005, an internal National Security Agency historical study was declassified; it concluded that Maddox had engaged the North Vietnamese Navy on August 2. The report stated, regarding the first incident on August 2, that ""at 1500G,Captain Herrick ordered Ogier's gun crews to open fire if the boats approached"
"David Day on Asia Review and gave a detailed account of the August 4 incident. According to Admiral Vasey, who was aboard , a guided missile cruiser, in the Gulf of Tonkin and serving as chief of staff to Commander Seventh Fleet, ""Turner Joy"" intercepted an NVA radio transmission ordering a torpedo boat attack on ""Turner Joy"" and ""Maddox"". Shortly thereafter, radar contact of ""several high speed contacts closing in on them"" was acquired by the USS ""Turner Joy"", which locked on to one of the contacts, fired and struck the torpedo boat. There were 18 witnesses, both enlisted and"
"later, on 4 August 1964, Stockdale was overhead during the second reported attack in the Tonkin Gulf. Unlike the first event, which was an actual sea battle, no Vietnamese forces were, however, believed to have been involved in the second engagement. In the early 1990s, he recounted: ""[I] had the best seat in the house to watch that event, and our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets—there were no PT boats there. ... There was nothing there but black water and American fire power."" The next morning, on 5 August 1964, President Johnson ordered bombing raids on North Vietnamese"
"wounded, with no US casualties. Although the United States claimed that the ""Maddox"" was engaged in peaceful surveillance, on nearby islands South Vietnam forces were conducting Operation 34A guerrilla raids. U.S. destroyers Maddox and C. Turner Joy reported that they were under fire, in a second Tonkin Gulf incident. Evidence suggests, however, that no actual attack took place. President Johnson informed Congressional leaders that he was ordering retaliatory air strikes on North Vietnam from U.S. aircraft carriers stationed off shore of Vietnam. Among the Congressional leaders, only Senator Mike Mansfield disagreed with the retaliation. China ordered its military forces near"
"also participated in ""Ligtas"", a combined SEATO exercise in the Philippines during May, and operation ""Minute Hand"", conducted at Numazu, Japan in July. While returning to the states in August 1964 the USS Turner Joy and USS Madox were fired upon by the VC in the Gulf of Tonkin. ""Paul Revere"" was turned around and went back to Okinawa and picked up 2500 Marines and sailed for Vietnam. She went up the Saigon river to help in the Salvage of the USNS Card. Returning to the States, she joined another convoy exercise, ""Mad Bull"", and arrived San Diego in October."
"three SOG vessels shelled targets on the mainland of North Vietnam. On the night of 4 August, after being joined by the destroyer , ""Maddox"" reported to Washington that both ships were under attack by unknown vessels (assumed to be North Vietnamese). This second reported attack led President Lyndon B. Johnson to launch Operation Pierce Arrow, an aerial attack against North Vietnamese targets on 5 August. Johnson also went to the United States Congress that same day and requested the passage of the Southeast Asia Resolution (better known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) asking for the unprecedented authority to"
"Korean, Nationalist Chinese, and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces. Having operated off the west coast for two years, from March 1962, ""Maddox"" departed Long Beach 13 March 1964 for another tour with the 7th Fleet. At first steaming with fast carrier groups in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, she headed south 18 May and established patrol off the coast of South Vietnam. On 31 July 1964 she commenced her first leg of a DESOTO patrol in the Tonkin Gulf. Initially a routine patrol, it later developed into a naval action with global repercussions. On 2 August 1964,"
"originally claimed by the National Security Agency that a Second Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred on August 4, 1964, as another sea battle, but instead evidence was found of ""Tonkin ghosts"" (false radar images) and not actual North Vietnamese torpedo boats. In the 2003 documentary ""The Fog of War"", the former United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara admitted that the August 2 USS ""Maddox"" attack happened with no Defense Department response, but the August 4 Gulf of Tonkin attack never happened. In 1995, McNamara met with former Vietnam People's Army General Võ Nguyên Giáp to ask what happened"
"Vietnamese torpedo boats in international waters from the Vietnamese coast in the Gulf of Tonkin; naval communications and reports of the attack were contradictory. Although Johnson very much wanted to keep discussions about Vietnam out of the 1964 election campaign, he felt forced to respond to the supposed aggression by the Vietnamese, so he sought and obtained from the Congress the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7. Johnson was determined to embolden his image on foreign policy, and also wanted to prevent criticism such as Truman had received in Korea by proceeding without congressional endorsement of military action. Responding"
"Shipyard between April and August 1964. Just as she was preparing to leave the yard, an event, the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred off the coast of Vietnam. It helped to bring the United States into the Vietnamese civil war as a full belligerent. Though ""Brinkley Bass"" spent another year in peaceful operations along the west coast, that incident meant that her remaining Far East deployments would be of a combat nature. On 28 September 1965, the destroyer departed Long Beach in a task group built around the aircraft carrier . The task group spent about two weeks engaged in exercises"
"Tonkin incident of 2 August 1964 led to a dramatic increase in direct American participation in the war, with nearly 200,000 troops deployed by the end of the year. Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure meant Westmoreland faced a dual threat. Regular North Vietnamese army units infiltrating across the remote border were apparently concentrating to mount an offensive and Westmoreland considered this the danger that had to be tackled immediately. There was also entrenched guerrilla subversion throughout the heavily populated coastal regions by the Viet Cong. Consistent with the enthusiasm of Robert McNamara for statistics, Westmoreland placed emphasis"
"the United States Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which enabled U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to deploy conventional military forces in the region to prevent further attacks by the North Vietnamese. Immediately after the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed, Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnamese Navy bases in retaliation for the reported attacks on U.S. Navy warships between 2 and 4 August 1964. However, the Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam were not deterred by the threat of U.S. retaliation. Throughout 1964, the Viet Cong launched several attacks on U.S. military facilities in South Vietnam but Johnson did"
"and China, their main allies. On August 4, another DESOTO patrol off the North Vietnamese coast was launched by ""Maddox"" and ""Turner Joy"", in order to ""show the flag"" after the first incident. This time their orders indicated that the ships were to close to no less than from the coast of North Vietnam. During an evening and early morning of rough weather and heavy seas, the destroyers received radar, sonar, and radio signals that they believed signaled another attack by the North Vietnamese navy. For some four hours the ships fired on radar targets and maneuvered vigorously amid electronic"
"torpedo boats that purportedly ""attacked"" USS ""Maddox"" in the first Tonkin Gulf Incident. USS ""Fortify"" participated in Operation Market Time Patrol (coastal surveillance force) from 1968 through the end of the war. During patrol ""Fortify"" was responsible for boarding and searching South Vietnamese fishing junks for smuggled weapons and other contraband intended to aid the Viet Cong. In July 1971 ""Fortify"" embarked on a WestPac deployment for coastal patrol in the coastal waters of South Vietnam and returned to her new home port at the Naval Base Guam upon completion of her tour. After the mining of Haiphong Harbor in"
"It was opposed in the Senate only by Senators Wayne Morse (D-OR) and Ernest Gruening (D-AK). Senator Gruening objected to ""sending our American boys into combat in a war in which we have no business, which is not our war, into which we have been misguidedly drawn, which is steadily being escalated"". The Johnson administration subsequently relied upon the resolution to begin its rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam and open warfare between North Vietnam and the United States. The , a U.S. destroyer, was conducting a DESOTO patrol in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin"