The United States Ship, Maddox, shortened to the USS Maddox was a Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer owned by the United States Navy.
History
On August 2, 1964, the USS Maddox was attacked by Viet Cong gunboats. The troops believed that it was the chance they needed to escalate the war, but President Lyndon B. Johnson had no response.
Disillusioned by the lack of military reaction and determined to escalate U.S. involvement, the Comedian leads a staged second attack against two American destroyers — including the Maddox — to force a governmental response. This action compels Johnson to finally authorize U.S. military retaliation, thereby drawing the United States more fully into the broader conflict.
Trivia
- In real life, the USS Maddox was a U.S. Navy Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer that served in World War II, the Korean War, and the early Vietnam War. It is best known for its role in the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964. While conducting a DESOTO intelligence patrol off the North Vietnamese coast, Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on August 2 and drove them off with air support. A second reported attack on August 4 was later determined to be likely the result of radar and sonar errors rather than hostile action. Reports of these events were used by President Lyndon B. Johnson to secure passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, significantly escalating U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
