Vietnam War, U.S. Naval Operations in The
Vietnam War, U.S. Naval Operations in The.The U.S. Navy's ability to project its combat power ashore in Southeast Asia, control the coastal waters off Vietnam, and provide logistic support for a major U.S. overseas military commitment mandated its heavy involvement in the Vietnam War. Naval operations took place in the South China Sea, among myriad islands, along the coastline of Vietnam, and on thousands of nautical miles of rivers and canals.
The first significant U.S. naval engagement of the war was the famous Tonkin Gulf incident of 1964. On the afternoon of 2 August, three North Vietnamese motor torpedo boats attacked the destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin with gunfire and torpedoes. On the night of 4 August, Maddox and another destroyer, Turner Joy, reported fighting a running battle with hostile patrol craft in the middle of the gulf. Communications intercepts and...
[The entire page is 1118 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
