Word: sonarman
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...Overeager Sonarman...
...Johnson's use of it. When challenged by headquarters, the commander of a two-destroyer U.S. naval patrol that was supposedly attacked at night by North Vietnamese torpedo boats replied hesitantly: "Review of action makes many reported contacts and torpedoes fired appear doubtful. Freak weather effects and overeager sonarman may have accounted for many reports. No actual visual sightings." Washington insisted that it had independent confirmation of the attack, but it was a skinny reed on which Lyndon Johnson based the first U.S. air strikes against North Viet Nam and his successful request to Congress for carte blanche...
...four seamen aboard Turner Joy and one man aboard Maddox did report seeing silhouettes of a ship, and sailors said they saw a searchlight stab momentarily through the darkness. There were also sonar reports of as many as 22 torpedoes, though critics of the Pentagon pointed out that a sonarman may have mistaken the sound made by the engine of his vessel for torpedoes...
...response to these questions represents the weakest point in the Administration's case. "Review of action makes many reported contacts and torpedoes fired appear doubtful," wired Captain John Herrick, commander of the patrol. "Freak weather effects and overeager sonarman may have accounted for many reports. No actual visual sightings by Maddox, suggest complete evaluation before any further action." With access to classified information, Herrick has since changed his mind. McNamara says that he has "unimpeachable" intelligence, probably intercepted North Vietnamese radio messages, to verify independently not only that Hanoi planned an attack on the U.S. destroyers but also that...
...school of shrimp sounds like fish frying, that sea robins cluck, that the white whale creaks like the lid on Davy Jones's locker, that the eel makes a zizz like water on a hot stove, and the whistling, jocular porpoise makes enough noise to give any sonarman a headache. Most deceptive of all for Thach's sound detectives are the pings, for all the world like those from submarines, that bounce off sunken wrecks. And for precisely that reason, the wise enemy submariner would be most likely to launch his attack from the area of Cape Hatteras...