Operation Pierce Arrow
| Operation "Pierce Arrow" | |||||
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| Part of the Vietnam War | |||||
 Targets of Operation Pierce Arrow |
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| Belligerents | |||||
 United States
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 North Vietnam
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Operation Pierce Arrow was a U.S. bombing campaign at the beginning of the Vietnam War.
In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident when the destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy of the United States Navy engaged North Vietnamese ships, sustaining light damage as they gathered electronic intelligence while in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, U.S.President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered Operation "Pierce Arrow" which was conducted on 5 August 1964.
The operation consisted of 64 strike sorties of aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation against the torpedo boat bases of Hon Gai, Loc Chao, Quang Khe, and Phuc Loi, and the oil storage depot at Vinh. The U.S. lost two aircraft to anti-aircraft fire, with one pilot killed, Lieutenant Richard Sather. Another, Lt. (jg) Everett Alvarez Jr. an A-4 Skyhawk pilot, became the first U.S. Navy Prisoner of War in Vietnam.
Pilots estimated that the Vinh raid destroyed 10 percent of North Vietnam's entire petroleum storage, together with the destruction of or damage to 29 P-4 torpedo boats or gunboats.
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