Operation 34A

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Operation 34A (full name Operational Plan 34A , also known as OPLAN 34Alpha ) was a US program classified as top secret by the CIA to carry out covert operations in the run-up to the Vietnam War against North Vietnam .

The main feature were the acts of sabotage carried out by the navy near the coast from the sea area. The missions were started in 1961 by the CIA, and later in 1964, during Operation Parasol-Switchback, responsibility was transferred to the MACV-SOG ( Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observation Group ), the special task force for unconventional warfare . This task force was used in top secret operations throughout Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War and was subordinate to the United States Department of Defense and the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam . Air America , a CIA-controlled US airline, was also involved in various missions .

The MACV-SOG put its main focus of the activities against the communist north on the implementation of the missions from sea. A small fleet of fast patrol boats was created in order to use small special units from the coast to carry military installations in North Vietnam, such as B. radar systems or weapons storage to put out of action. The number of these brief, coordinated maritime attacks doubled between June and July 1964.

During the same period, the US Navy carried out electronic surveillance operations ( Desoto patrols ) with destroyers off the coast of Northern Vietnam. Although both missions were carried out independently of one another, the attacks by the patrol boats were used by the US Navy reconnaissance mission: the attacks by the small boats enabled the destroyers to evaluate the reaction of the North Vietnamese and thus gain knowledge of how and where the enemy was defending itself and what options it had to respond to the attacks.

On the morning of August 2, 1964, a North Vietnamese radio transmitter on the island of Hòn Ngư was disabled by an Operation 34A mission. Shortly thereafter, the USS Maddox was attacked by three patrol boats from North Vietnam. The USS Turner Joy received a distress call from the destroyer USS Maddox , which was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats , and rushed to his aid. 48 hours later, the two ships were now operating together, the USS Turner Joy located several radar echoes that were rapidly approaching. The ships called for support from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga as they were allegedly attacked with torpedoes. This event came to be known as the Tonkin Incident , which led to the United States' entry into the Vietnam War.

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