Fact: Viet Cong commandos sank an American aircraft carrier # 039;
Fact: Viet Cong commandos sank an American aircraft carrier # 039;
Five Navy divers investigated the damage to Card. One said he found the remains of a US-made demolition package, evidence that the Viet Cong may have used stolen US military ammunition.
Shortly after midnight, two Viet Cong commandos emerged from a sewer tunnel that emptied into the port of Saigon, each carrying about 90 pounds of high-powered explosives and the components needed to make two time bombs .
Its target was the largest US ship in the port, USNS Card. An escort company that saw the distinguished service as a submarine hunter in the North Atlantic during World War II, during the early hours of the morning of May 2, 1964, Card was part of the Military Seal Seal Command of the States United.
The ship supported a growing military engagement of the South Vietnamese government that occurred long before the Incident Gulf Tonkin . Since 1961, Card had transported fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to the beleaguered nation, as well as US pilots and support teams. UU They need to operate them.
The commandos swam to Card, where they spent about an hour in the water, placing the charges just above the waterline near the bilge and the engine compartment on the starboard side of the ship. They set the timers and move away quickly.
The charges exploded. Five civilian crew aboard Card died, the explosion tore a huge hole in the engine room compartment and a proud ship that had survived attacks by German submarines was heading to the bottom: the last aircraft carrier in military history from the United States to date Submerged by the action of the enemy.
The sinking of the Card was an impressive victory for the Viet Cong, although little remembered today. It illustrates how vulnerable warships can be when confronted with a low-tech enemy ... and how difficult it is to maintain port security in a war without a real front.
But it also showed how resilient American naval forces are. In 17 days, the rescue teams lifted Card in almost 50 feet of water, and six months later, the ship returned to service for another six years.
Not in vain, North Vietnam celebrated the sinking of Card, considering it a first-class propaganda victory. The US government UU He refused even to acknowledge the sinking of the ship and told the public that the airline had only suffered damage.
The government of North Vietnam even commemorated the event by portraying the operation on a 1964 postage stamp.
Naval ships often have a mystique about them: they look formidable, they stand on arms and planes, and they have the ability to project the power of a nation anywhere on the planet. In particular, aircraft carriers are the symbol of a nation that has the status of "great power".
But they are vulnerable to attacks. For example, there are reasons why even aircraft carriers have numerous escort vessels (destroyers, guided missile cruisers, even submarines) to protect an aircraft carrier and to attack the enemy.
We should not be too surprised when an enemy takes out a naval vessel in combat, even if it is a command with a time bomb, James Holmes, a historian and naval analyst who teaches at US Naval War College, told War Is Boring.
"We should not get carried away by thinking of warships as 'steel castles,' or stalkers of the past few days, or whatever," Holmes said. "A castle is a fortification whose walls can receive enormous punishment, while most modern warships have thin sides: the nuclear-powered airline is an honorable exception. So a man with a load can do a lot of damage. "
Holmes said the sinking of the Card "provided a preview" of the USS Cole attack in 2000, a textbook case of a low-tech assault that yielded an excellent example of US naval power. UU
Al Qaeda agents launched a suicide attack on Cole, a guided missile destroyer, using a small boat full of explosives that attacked the US ship while it was docked in the port of Aden. The explosion broke a huge hole in the ship, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39, the deadliest attack on a US Navy ship in recent history.
The explosion of the explosion reached Cole's galley, killing and wounding many there while the sailors lined up for lunch. The investigators said later that they did not consider the timing of the attack a coincidence.
Fifty years ago, the penetration of port security was also a major concern for the perpetrators of the attack on Card.
Lam Son Nao, 79, the leader of the Viet Cong commandos, was a maintenance worker in the port at the time of the attack. He used his work as a cover while gathering information, hiding explosives and planning the mission.
Despite the patrol boats full of harbor police, Nao and his partner were able to mount their operation due to careful planning and corruption of the Saigon police.
"For the mission of the Card, my operational partner and I pretended to be fishermen," Nao said in an interview with the Vietnam News Service on April 22, 2015. "When our ship arrived at the Nha Rong pier, the police chased us to the edge of the Thu Thiem peninsula. "To prevent my boat from being inspected, we pushed the boat into a swamp, so that the police boat could not reach it."
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