spartans_in_darkness

TOft 3EeREfHeeMltHNX1
conclusion was reached on the CIC. However, the
Turner Joy never detected any torpedoes on its
sonar. Nor did it detect any torpedoes at all on its
sonar that night. 8 9
(D) At 2140G (1440Z), Herrick informed
CINCPACFLT that he had commenced firing on
the attacking PT boat. The Turner Joy had begun
firing at its return shortly before this. Both
destroyers had a difficult time holding a radar
lock on their targets. Within five minutes, the
return on Maddox's radar, which was moving
away from the destroyers, disappeared from its
screen at a distance of about 9,000 yards. The one
that the Turner Joy was tracking kept approaching,
and at a distance of about 4,000 yards, it disappeared
as well.90
(D) For the next fifteen minutes all surface
contacts were gone from the radars of the two
destroyers. Then, at 2201G (1501Z), more contacts
were detected coming from the west. Now
the thickest part of the naval action commenced.
The two destroyers gyrated wildly in the dark
waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, the Turner Joy firing
over 300 rounds madly at swarms of attack-
19'
Thanh Hoa.
\ c"
Hon Mati •
'\
107 0
1,,:-::=.,...-__~2046H
Dong Hoi.
_....-_.,0700H
'07"
0100H
5 Aug
Gulf of
Tonkin
lOA'
,
(U) GulfofTonkin track, 3-5 August 1964
(Courtesy ofthe N