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islands, on the pretext that the North Vietnamese maintained the three-mile limit set by the former colonial power, the French. However, Naval Intelligence knew that the North Vietnamese had extended their territorial waters to twelve miles, like the Chinese and other Communist countries.
    On the morning of 2 August, the
Maddox
encountered a fleet of Vietnamese junks. Captain John Herrick sounded general quarters and radioed the Seventh Fleet that he expected 'possible hostile action'. A North Vietnamese message was intercepted, saying the Communists were preparing for 'military operations'. At 11.00 a.m, the
Maddox
was within ten miles of the Red River delta when three Communist patrol boats emerged from the estuary. The
Maddox
turned out to sea and the high-speed patrol boats gave chase. At 10,000 yards, Herrick opened fire. At 5,000 yards, two of the gunboats fired a torpedo. Both missed. A torpedo fired by the third gunboat turned out to be a dud.
    The
Maddox
hit one gunboat and sank it. The other two were crippled by strafing from US warplanes from the
Ticonderoga
. Herrick wanted to go in and finished them off, but was ordered back. There had been no US casualties. The
Maddox
had been hit by only one bullet. That one bullet was enough to start a war.
    The Republican presidential candidate, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, was a rabid right-winger and urged tougher action against the North Vietnamese. Using the 'hot line' to Moscow for the first time, Johnson warned of dire consequences for the North Vietnamese if US vessels were attacked again in what he maintained were 'international waters'. A second aircraft carrier, the USS
Constellation
, and a second destroyer, the
C. Turner Joy
, were dispatched to the Gulf of Tonkin.
    About 8 a.m. on 4 August, the
Maddox
intercepted a message that gave Captain Herrick the 'impression' that the North Vietnamese were preparing to attack. Sonar operators reported twenty-two incoming enemy torpedoes, none of which hit the ship. The
Maddox
opened fire. Gunnery officers reported sinking two or perhaps three Communist craft. But US warplanes circling overhead saw nothing. When the shooting had stopped, Herrick questioned his men. None of them had actually seen an enemy vessel. The sea was rough and Herrick concluded that the blips his inexperienced sonar operators had interpreted as torpedoes were, in fact, waves. Even Johnson, a navy veteran, did not believe that the
Maddox
was under attack.
    'Hell, those dumb stupid sailors were just shooting at flying fish,' he said.
    It hardly mattered. In the White House, Johnson's advisers decided he was being put to the test. If he wanted to defend himself against Goldwater and the Republican right wing, he could not be seen to be a vacillating or indecisive leader. Congressional leaders and ambassadors of allies, such as Britain, were briefed. Air strikes were ordered and Johnson went on television to explain the situation to the American people.
    Sixty-four sorties were flown against four North Vietnamese patrol boat bases and a major oil storage depot. An estimated twenty-five enemy vessels were put out of action. Two US planes were downed and one pilot, Lieutenant Everett Alvarez Jr, became the first US prisoner of the war to be captured by the North Vietnamese. It would be eight years before he returned home.
    On 7 August, the resolution Johnson had prepared was put before Congress. Now called the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, it was passed by the House 416–0 and by the Senate 88–2, with only Senators Morse and Ernest Gruening of Alaska voting against it. This is what it said:
    SEC. 1 . Whereas naval units of the Communist regime in Vietnam, in violation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law, have deliberately and repeatedly attacked United States naval vessels lawfully present in international waters, and have thereby created a serious threat to international peace.
    Whereas these attacks are