<P> The Gulf of Tonkin incident ( Vietnamese : Sự kiện Vịnh Bắc Bộ ) , also known as the USS Maddox incident , was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War . It involved either one or two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin . The original American report blamed North Vietnam for both incidents , but eventually became very controversial with widespread belief that at least one , and possibly both incidents were false , and possibly deliberately so . On August 2 , 1964 , the destroyer USS Maddox , while performing a signals intelligence patrol as part of DESOTO operations , was pursued by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron . Maddox fired three warning shots and the North Vietnamese boats then attacked with torpedoes and machine gun fire . Maddox expended over 280 3 - inch ( 76.2 mm ) and 5 - inch ( 127 mm ) shells in a sea battle . One U.S. aircraft was damaged , three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged , and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed , with six more wounded . There were no U.S. casualties . Maddox `` was unscathed except for a single bullet hole from a Vietnamese machine gun round . '' </P>
escalation of the war in vietnam began with what incident
also known as the USS Maddox incident