Map showing the targets of "Operation Pierce Arrow", in August 1964. In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered "Operation Pierce Arrow" which was conducted on 5 August 1964. The operation consisted of 64 strike sorties from the aircraft carriers USS <i>Ticonderoga</i> (CVA-14) and USS <i>Constellation</i> (CVA-64) against the North Vietnamese torpedo boat bases of Hon Gai, Loc Chao, Quang Khe, and Ben Thuy, and the oil storage depot at Vinh. The U.S. lost two aircraft to anti-aircraft fire, with one pilot killed and another becoming the first U.S. Prisoner of War in Vietnam. Pilots estimated they destroyed 90 percent of the petroleum storage facility at Vinh together with the destruction of or damage to 25 P-4 torpedo boats.
U.S. Department of Defense
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/department_arch.html">U.S. Navy All Hands magazine</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah196409.pdf">September 1964</a>, p. 5.