Gulf of Tonkin Incident Further information: Gulf of Tonkin Incident Stockdale exiting his A-4 fighter-bomber weeks before becoming a POW. On 2 August 1964, while on a DESOTO patrol in the Tonkin Gulf, the destroyer USS Maddox (DD-731) engaged 3 North Vietnamese Navy P-4 torpedo boats from the 135th Torpedo Squadron.[3] After fighting a running gun and torpedo battle, in which the Maddox fired over 280 5-inch shells, and the torpedo boats expended their 6 torpedoes (all misses) and hundreds of rounds of 14.5mm machinegun fire; the combatants broke contact. As the torpedo boats turned for their North Vietnamese coastline, four F-8 Crusader fighter aircraft from USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) arrived, and immediately attacked the retreating torpedo boats.[4] Stockdale, (commander VF-51 (Fighter Squadron 51)), with Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Richard Hastings attacked torpedo boats T-333 and T-336, while Commander R. F. Mohrhardt and Lieutenant Commander C. E. Southwick attacked torpedo boat T-339. The four F-8 pilots reported scoring no hits with their Zuni rockets, but reported hits on all three torpedo boats with their 20mm cannon.[5] Two nights later, on August 4, 1964, Stockdale was overhead during the second reported attack in the Tonkin Gulf. However, unlike the first event, which was an actual sea battle, no Vietnamese forces were 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. Stockdale said his superiors ordered him to keep quiet about the details of that night. The next morning on August 5, 1964, President Johnson ordered bombing raids on North Vietnamese military targets which he announced were retaliation for the alleged incident of August 4. When Stockdale was awoken in the early morning and was told he was to lead these attacks he responded, Retaliation for what? Later, while a prisoner of war, he was concerned that he would be forced to reveal this secret about the Vietnam War.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 20:09:29 +0000
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