Page 139 - NS-2 Textbook

132 MARITIME HISTORY

to this deteriorating situation, in November 1963 South Vietnamese units and thousands of Vietcong. An exam-
Vietnamese military leaders staged a coup. They assassi- ple of this fighting was the siege at Khe Sanh in which
nated Diem and seized control of the government. surrollilded marines inflicted heavy casualties on the
enemy for over six months.
TIle U.S. Navy involvement was massive. The Sev-
THE TONKIN GULF INCIDENT
enth Fleet had as many as five carriers operating off
Open involvement of the United States in the war began "Yankee Station" in the Tonkin Gulf continuously for the
in August 1964, during the presidency of Lyndon Jolm- next five years. TIleir mOV€lnents were often monitored
son. The destroyer USS Maddox was patrolling in the by one or more Soviet intelligence-gathering trawlers
Gulf of Tonkin off the North Vieh1amese coast on an in- (AGIs) operating in the Gulf. Over sixty amphibious as-
telligence mission. The ship was outside of the 3-mile saults \vere made on South Viehlamese beaches, in mis-
limit then recognized by the United States but within the sions designed to eliminate pockets of Vietcong and
12-mile limit claimed by North Vietnam. On 2 August the North Vietnamese forces that had been located by intelli-
Maddox was attacked by three NVN patrol boats, which gence. By 1968 President Johnson had committed more
fired torpedoes and machine glms at her. In the ensning than half a million American servicemen to South Viet-
battle, one of the patrol boats was left dead in the water. nam. B-52 bombers flew hundreds of massive "Rolling
President Johnson ordered the destroyer to resume Thunder" bombing raids against enemy targets from
its patrol in the gulf as an expression of American rights bases in Guam and Thailand.
to freedom of the seas. The following night, during In addition to these activities, the Navy also became
stormy weather, another North Vietnamese torpedo at- involved with all kinds of sea-launched commando,
tack was reported by the Maddox and the destroyer C. river, and coastal patrol operations. A -whole new
TImler Joy, though later evidence seemed to indicate the "Brown Water Navy," nanled the Mobile Riverine Force,
alleged attack may never have occurred. In any event, ,vas created. It consisted of annored monitors, armored
the president ordered aircraft from the carriers COllstella- troop carriers, and a variety of patrol and minesweeping
tioll and Ticollderoga to bomb North Vietnamese patrol craft. Riverine patrols roamed through the numerous
boat bases and an oil storage depot in retaliation. Two canals and rivers of the Mekong Delta south and west of
days late1; Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, Saigon. Air-cllshion vehicles patrolled the coastal
which gave the president a free hand to employ neces- sotmds, the Plain of Reeds, and many rivers. Thousands
sary measures to "repel any armed attack" or "prevent of armed helicopters and helicopter gunships zipped
further aggression." This resolution, along with subse- tru'ough the air to strike known and suspected enemy
quent congressional financial appropriations, formed the concentrations. Navy "swift boats" and Coast Guard
legal basis for America's escalating involvement in the cutters interdicted attempts by the North Vietnamese
Vieh1am War. to infiltrate troops and supplies by sea in Operation
In February 1965, after heavy American casualties Market Tin1e. Special Forces, SEAL teams, UDTs, and
were sustained in a Vietcong mortar attack on the Pleiku Sea Commandos conducted htmdreds of raids and am-
Air Base, President Johnson retaliated with carrier air at- bushes against the elusive enemy. (Sea Commandos
tacks on barracks and port facilities in North Vietnam. A were highly trained Vietnamese with SEAL and U.S. Ma-
terrorist attack three days later killed twenty-three Amer- rine advisers.)
icans in an enlisted men's hotel. The president now or-
dered the u.s. Marines to land at DaNang to protect a
RESTRICTIONS HINDER VICTORY
major air base located there, and to develop and defend
additional bases in the northern part of South Vietnam to In spite of the increased American involvement, ho,v-
prevent North Viehlamese incursions across the D1v1Z. ever, the war dragged on for several years. There was no
The marines landed on 8 March and shortly thereafter declaration of war by Congress, and political indecision
joined South Vietnamese forces in "search and destroy" in Washington made effective military prosecution of the
missions against the Vietcong. war difficult if not impossible. Many bombing restric-
With the cormniln1ent of the marines, the general tions in North Vietnam and prohibitions against mining
U.S. buildup began. Amphibious assaults and combat air North Vietnamese waters were imposed, mainly out of
support from the Seventh Fleet steadily grew in size and concern over provoking a reaction from the Soviet Union
strength. Army combat troops arrived and took over the or China.
Chu Lai base in April 1967, while the marines, now num- Continuous attacks by carrier- and land-based air-
bering more than 70,000, operated from a series of bases craft along the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail, the overland
from DaNang north to the DMZ. The marines were sup- Communist supply route tlu'ough the Laotian and Cam-
ported by 26,000 U.S. Navy Seabees in the northern area. bodian jungles, could not stop a steady flow of combat-
They fought regularly against regin1ent-sized North ants and material from North Vieh1am. There rarely was