ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED 7 FEBRUARY 1968

RIPPLE SALVO… #704… TET WAS OPPORTUNITY!!!. PASSED UP…. It was a SURPRISE SNEAK ATTACK initiated under a CEASE-FIRE that involved, among other events, the MERCILESS slaying of South Vietnamese civilians–HUNDREDS OF DOCUMENTED ATROCITIES by the Vietcong–and THE INVASION AND OCCUPATION OF OUR EMBASSY IN SAIGON, including THE MURDER OF U.S. MARINES. The Tet Offensive of the Vietcong was met and defeated with victory in every Province. The enemy was in complete disarray and running away. And the President knew it (reference the historical documents). And we let the enemy go–to regroup with hardcore North Vietnamese divisions taking the place of Vietcong. Despite the American and South Vietnamese Army victory, we backed off... Up north three divisions of North Vietnamese were fully engaged with a siege of Khesanh and the Marines were holding them by the nose.

The frontiers of Cambodia and Laos had become fictitious barriers freely violated by both sides. With the surprise attack, under cease-fire conditions, we had a case for war and we passed. No fictitious Tonkin Gulf incident required to justify punishing aggression with a full-scale commitment to war. THIS WAS THE REAL THING.

And how were we to accomplish this final drive to a negotiated peace?  Execute Linebacker I and II four-plus years earlier, in February 1968. Mine the harbors, bring the full force of America into play. A fair share of which were already in motion or on station as a response to Pueblo, including the carrier Enterprise, two more wings of Air Force strike-fighters and another island full of B-52s. The contingency plans were on the shelves of the commanders from Washington to Saigon and Yankee Station… gathering dust…

Wikipedia/OPERATION POCKET MONEY…

“On 9 May 1972 a Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star made an early morning launch from Da Nang Air Base to support the operation. USS Kitty Hawk launched seventeen aircraft for a diversionary airstrike against Nam Dinh railroad siding. The Kitty Hawk airstrike found bad weather over the primary target and struck targets at Thanh Hoa at 8:40 and Phu Bai at 8:45.

“At daylight on the 9th, a destroyer force struck the Haiphong Harbor air defense batteries with a 30-minute bombardment from their 5-inch (127mm) guns, which preceded the aerial mining. The strike force was commanded by Captain Robert Price, who succeeded (Rear) Admiral (Rembrandt) Robinson, and consisted of USS Richard S. Edwards, Berkeley, Buchanan and Myles C. Fox.

(Webmaster note: Admiral Robinson lost his life on the night of 8 May 1972 when his helicopter crashed in the Tonkin Gulf while trying to land on USS Providence (CL-82). He was returning to his flagship after an Operation Pocket Money meeting aboard Coral Sea. Admiral Robinson was only 47 years old)

“The VMA-224 A-6A Intruders (led by Kitty Hawk’s Air Wing Commander, Commander Roger Sheets) left USS Coral Sea at 08:40 with A-7E Corsairs From VA-22 and VA-94 (led by Commander Len Guiliani) and a single EKA-3B Skywarrior for electronic countermeasures support. Chicago set general quarters at 08:40, and within minutes launched two Talos missiles at two MiGs in a holding pattern awaiting air control vectors on the approaching bombers. One MiG was destroyed.

(Webmaster note: Commander Sheet’s bombardier/navigator on this crucial mission was Marine Corps aviator Captain Charlie Carr. Humble webmaster highly admires his persona, a larger-than-life character—a flesh-and-blood “Great Santini“) 

“USS Coral Sea bombers (MINERS) began releasing mines at 08:59. Commander Sheets radioed the carrier at 09:01 to verify mines were in the water. Coral Sea forwarded the message to the White House where President Nixon was speaking. Nixon had been speaking slowly to avoid jeopardizing the mission, but upon receiving the message he stated:

” ‘I have ordered the following measures, which are being implemented as I am speaking to you. All entrances to North Vietnamese ports will be mined to prevent access to these ports and North Vietnamese naval operations from these ports. United States forces have been directed to take appropriated measures within the international and claimed territorial waters of North Vietnam to interdict the delivery of supplies. Rail and all communications will be cut off to the maximum extent possible. Air and Naval strikes against North Vietnam will continue.’

The results… The A-6 Intruders put a total of 12 mines in the inner segment of the carefully planned minefield and the A-7s put 24 in the outer segment of the Haiphong Harbor. All 36 mines were to lay dormant for 72-hours to give the ships in-port to get underway and clear the harbor. Nine ships departed and 27 remained. Ships en route to Haiphong or other North Vietnam ports diverted to different destinations. The enemy suddenly got serious about negotiating an end to the war.

Unfortunately, in the more than four years between when the mining and Linebacker were executed, and when it should have been ordered and accomplished, more than 45,000 MORE American troops would give up their lives for the lost cause that was the Vietnam war…

RTR will return to form tomorrow. I judged 7 February 1968 to be the opportunity to introduce a specific date when President Johnson had the opportunity to correct the course of the Vietnam war and failed to risk it. Your comments are invited…as always…

Lest we forget…..       Bear

PS… On this day 50 years ago the Bear was floating around in the Sea of Japan on the out-of-position Enterprise; there were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia; and, Dr. Martin Luther King, leading 2,500 in silent prayer for the Vietnam dead in Arlington, said: “Somewhere along the way we have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live.”….