Which US destroyer was involved in the August 2, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident? USS Maddox was the destroyer involved in the first Gulf of Tonkin clash.
The Maddox was conducting a DESOTO signals-intelligence patrol near North Vietnam on August 2, 1964, when three North Vietnamese torpedo boats approached and exchanged fire with it. The destroyer evaded torpedoes and suffered only minor damage; the attacking boats were damaged by U.S. naval gunfire and aircraft from USS Ticonderoga.
The incident is often confused with the alleged second attack on August 4, when USS Turner Joy joined Maddox. Later investigations concluded that the August 4 attack had not actually occurred, although the Johnson administration treated it as real. Congress soon passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authority to expand U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.