The Gulf of Tonkin Incident – 55 Years Ago Today

In late 1961–early 1962 a series of U.S. Navy patrols off the east coast of Communist China was proposed. The purpose of these patrols was to be three-fold.

In the first place they would establish and maintain the presence of the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the international waters off the China coast; second, they would serve as a minor Cold War irritant to the “Chicoms”; and third, they would collect as much intelligence as possible concerning Chicom electronic and naval activity.