Aug. 4, 1964 - The Defense Department announced tonight that North Vietnamese PT boats made a “deliberate attack” today on two United States destroyers patrolling international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam.
The attack came two days after North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the Maddox, one of the destroyers in today’s incident.
The destroyers and covering carrier-based aircraft fired on the vessels in today’s attack, drove them off, and apparently sank at least two of them, according to the announcement. The Pentagon said there were no United States casualties or damage.
The attack was made by an “undetermined number of North Vietnamese PT boats” during darkness about 65 miles from the nearest land, the Pentagon reported. It said the attack came at 10:30 p.m., North Vietnamese time, or 10:30 a.m., Washington time.
The second attack was described in Washington as much fiercer than the first one, which was said to have lasted half an hour. The second battle was understood to have lasted about three hours in rough sea, with bad weather and low visibility.
“We are in a very serious situation,” a Government official said.
The North Vietnamese regime said tonight that the report of another attack on United States ships was a “fabrication.”
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