Someone told me years ago it was pretty much the Americans torpedoing their own ship and blaming it on the north Vietnamese so they would have a reason to get involved in the Vietnam was, how accurate is this simple explanation and what actually happened if the explanation above is wrong? First post, thanks in advance
A crucial fact that is fundamentally important that is of the 2 separate incidents the first on August 2 is not disputed by either side as occuring.
The main controversy for that then is if the Maddox firing warning shots was provocation and what was the legal status of North Vietnam's territorial waters claims. Maddox was near to the line claimed by the North but unrecognized by the US. While she fired 3 rounds when the North's boats got within 10k yards of her that had been shadowing her for several days. This was then followed by their attack but not reported on by the White House in releasing information to the public.
The later 4 August incident is the one everyone thinks about as it has been no acknowledged as nothing but jumpy sailors and limited sensors. In bad weather and high seas they fired at radar ghosts mistaken for another attack. The doubt as to the nature of the incident was forwarded to the White House even at the time but ignored more or less.