The executive branch of the US government combined the August 2 report with the FIRST August 4th report (which they it knew had been withdrawn) and made no mention of the withdrawal message, and sent a message to the congress that a US Warship (which was not described as engaged in spy activities) had been attacked by a hostile state. Soon afterward, the captain of the ship withdrew that report, citing the weather and the 'over zealous' character of those sailors.

Some sonar operators on the ship generated messages that the ship was under attack, and a message was sent. Two days later (on August 4) there was a storm out there.

On August 2nd, in a defensive move, the navy of North Vietnam sent torpedo boats to drive away the US Navy ship. Those operations would support the sovereign nation of South Vietnam, with which North Vietnam was at war. A US Navy Warship, the USS Maddox, was in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin conducting spy operations on the sovereign nation of North Vietnam.

Us navy plumbers during vietnam war