FOIA: DRV Naval Entity Reports Losses and Claims two Enemy Aircraft Shot Down - 4 August 1964

relea00140.pdf
DRV Naval Entity Reports Losses and Claims two Enemy Aircraft Shot Down
This is a report based on DRV comms and sent to recipient and COM7THFLT, USN-414T, . It USN-467N, NSA PAC REP PHIL.
Document date: 1964-08-04
Department: NSA Headquarters, Ft. Meade, MD (DIRNSDA)
Author: SIGINT
Document type: Report
pages: 0


Archivist's Notes: This gives a short description of comms from the DRV which mentions 2 US aircraft shot down and another damaged. It also appears that in this the DRV lost 2 ships. Mentions possibility that the "enemy" ship could also be damaged. This typically raised moral

This single page document is a report of intercepted communications from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). The message was a report of damage to the enemy after the air attack by the US Navy on the DRV, in retaliation of supposed earlier attacks by the DRV on the US Navy Destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy on Aug. 2 - 4, 1964. They claimed to have brought down two aircraft, and “sacrificed” two of their own ships. There was no mention of damage to the fueling station for the boats that was also reported by the US.

The earlier attacks on the US Destroyers was known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. This lead to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Lyndon Johnson authority to provide military support for ally countries and ultimately led to the Vietnam War. Later it was found that in the first attack, the USS Maddox had fired at the PT boats first, and the second attack didn't even happen, which lead many to speculate that it was a false flag operation.

Related FOIA Document:
FOIA: DRV attack on US Ships in Gulf of Tonkin; 2 - 4 August 1964
FOIA: Gulf of Tonkin Situation Report No. 2
FOIA: Gulf of Tonkin Situation Report No. 3

Here are more links related to this document. The first one seems to be another report that claims of six downed US aircraft during the US air strike, which contradicts this one.

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident prompted the US Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Johnson authority to use military force to defend allies in the area and ultimately lead to the beginning of the Vietnam War.

Related FOIA Documents:
FOIA: DRV Naval Entity Claims six U.S. Aircraft Downed by Naval and Air Defence Forces - 6 August 19
FOIA: Summary of DRV Naval Communications Revealing Pre-Planned Attacks on USS Maddox
FOIA: SIGINT Reflections of DRV Attacks on USS Maddox - 08/08/1964


[edit on 4/15/2008 by Hal9000]