The Tonkin myth
Admiral Stephen “Steve” Morrison
Rock books keep repeating it: Jim Morrison’s father commanded U.S. naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964, and so had a hand in starting the Vietnam War.
He didn’t. That August he was still a captain, commanding officer of USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). The deck logs for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th put the ship on the Japanese coast, Sasebo toward Yokosuka. The carrier covering Maddox on the 2nd was Ticonderoga. The 5 August strikes were Ticonderoga and Constellation. Task Force 77 was Rear Admiral Robert B. Moore, embarked in Ticonderoga.
This page is not about politics, and it is not about what happened in the Gulf. The only interest here is the man the books put on that scene. He was not there.
Captain, not admiral
Morrison took command of Bon Homme Richard on 22 November 1963. Rank: captain. The ship was then a First Fleet carrier-division flagship out of San Diego — that is not Task Force 77 in the Gulf. Rear admiral only comes in 1967. In 1968 he had a task group, flagship Hancock. The biographies call him Admiral Morrison in 1964 because it sounds like he could have run a task force. A captain on a Japanese transit could not.
1964 · captain and son, on Bon Homme Richard
Captain George S. Morrison and James, on the bridge of Bon Homme Richard. U.S. Navy photograph, National Archives, NAID 17407946. A captain, on this ship. Not an admiral in the Gulf.
2–4 August 1964 · the logs
Every watch, the ship writes where she is. The 1964 deck logs for CVA-31 are in the National Archives (catalog.archives.gov). These are the days of the incident.
31 July 1964 · Bon Homme Richard, weather sheet
2 August 1964 · deck log
Sunday 2 August — same day as Maddox. Steaming in company with USS Cowell (DDR-547) and USS Small (DDR-838), Sasebo, Japan to Yokosuka, Japan, ComSeventhFleet quarterly employment schedule. Base course 120°, 13 knots. This ship is the guide. SOPA and OTC are her own commanding officer, i.e. Morrison, on this deck. Later they take fuel from USS Manatee (AO-58). Hundreds of miles from the Gulf.
3 August 1964 · deck log
Monday 3 August. Still Sasebo to Yokosuka, now a 3C3 ASW screen with Small, Cowell and USS Prichett (DD-561). Course 230° T, 12 knots. OTC and SOPA again the CO of this ship. Condition three. They work the flight deck and launch aircraft off Japan. Task Force 77 is not mentioned because they were not with it.
4 August 1964 · deck log
Tuesday 4 August. Same screen, same track. Course 030° T, 11.6 knots. Man-overboard drill, countdown drill, more flying. The second Tonkin report is that night. This page never leaves Japanese waters.
The same days, the ships that were actually off Viet Nam. Their logs are in the National Archives too.
2 August 1964 · Ticonderoga
Sunday 2 August, 00–04. Ticonderoga is with Task Group 77.5 — Berkeley, Turner Joy, Edson, Hubbard — conducting special operations off the coast of South Vietnam. The same Sunday, Bon Homme Richard is on the Sasebo–Yokosuka track. National Archives, NAID 6035043.
4 August 1964 · Ticonderoga, in the Gulf
Tuesday 4 August. In company with Task Group 77.5, including Turner Joy and Maddox, conducting special operations off the coast of Viet Nam. The 04–08 watch has flight operations near 16°N, 110°E. SOPA is CTF 77, in this ship. That is the Gulf. Bon Homme Richard’s page for this Tuesday is the Japanese transit above. National Archives, NAID 6035043.
4 August 1964 · Turner Joy, the night of the second report
Tuesday 4 August, the 20–24 watch. Turner Joy is firing, using depth charges, and proceeding to close Maddox. Station 4,000 yards astern of Maddox. This is the incident night. National Archives, NAID 173134304.
5 August 1964 · Ticonderoga, strike day
Wednesday 5 August. Special operations off Viet Nam, near 16°15′N, 110°45′E. CTF 77 is embarked. The strike entries sit further down the day. They are not on this opening page. National Archives, NAID 6035043.
4 August 1964 · Constellation, still in Hong Kong
Tuesday 4 August, 00–04. Constellation is anchored in Hong Kong harbour. ComCarDiv 9 is SOPA. She is not in the Gulf when this day starts. She is ordered to join later. National Archives, NAID 6034850.
5 August 1964 · Constellation, deck log
21 August 1964 · Yokosuka back toward Sasebo
Weather sheet. Passage from Yokosuka to Sasebo. Already on the way back along the Japanese coast. Not the Gulf. On 4 August she was still en route to Yokosuka. National Archives, NAID 6004364.
26 August 1964 · newsletter, Captain G. S. Morrison
Addressed to the families and friends of the men of the Bon Homme Richard. The WestPac tour was supposed to end in October; they have been extended because of the fighting in Southeast Asia. Signed G. S. Morrison, Captain, U.S. Navy, Commanding Officer. Three weeks after Tonkin he is still a captain, still on this ship. Rear admiral: 1967. Hancock: 1968.
28 August 1964 · leaves Sasebo, not Yokosuka
Weather sheet. Passage from Sasebo to Subic Bay. This is the day she finally heads south. The port is Sasebo. The Fayette Advertiser, below, says Yokosuka. The log does not. National Archives, NAID 6004364.
1 September 1964 · South China Sea
Tuesday 1 September, 00–04. With Prichett and Rupertus, operating in the South China Sea, in company with Constellation. This is the later patrol, the one the captain’s letter is about. Not 2 August. National Archives, NAID 6004365.
12 October 1964 · News Journal, Wilmington
Sabina, Ohio. A mother has a letter from the captain of her son’s ship. The paper prints the rank: Capt. G. S. Morrison, USS Bon Homme Richard. The tour was extended because of the fighting in Southeast Asia. Her son, Ensign Roy C. Stone, reached the South China Sea on 2 September. That is the later patrol. Not 2 August. The photograph on the clipping is another local man. Not Morrison.
14 October 1964 · Subic toward Sasebo
Wednesday 14 October. En route from Subic Bay to Sasebo. OTC is CTG 77.7. National Archives, NAID 6004366.
17 October 1964 · moored, Sasebo
Saturday 17 October. Moored starboard side to berths 2 and 3, Akasaki fuel pier, Sasebo. National Archives, NAID 6004366.
15 December 1964 · Fayette Advertiser
A Fayette sailor’s paper, after the ship is home. The crew called Bon Homme Richard the phantom ship. During the Tonkin crisis and the patrol that followed, she was on the line with Constellation and Ticonderoga for almost 50 days, and the press did not mention her. The article dates that patrol from late August: on the line from 1 September to 10 October, and it also counts 40 days there. It says she left Yokosuka on 28 August. That port is wrong. The deck log for 28 August has her leaving Sasebo for Subic Bay. On 4 August she was still on the way to Yokosuka. On 21 August she was already heading back to Sasebo. The 50 days are the later patrol. Not 2, 3 or 4 August. Those days are in the logs above, on the Japanese coast. The complaint in the paper is that the other ships got the credit. Those were the ships at Tonkin.
Who was at Tonkin
Rear Admiral Robert B. Moore had Carrier Task Force 77, embarked in Ticonderoga (CVA-14). Ticonderoga launched the F-8s that went to Maddox on the 2nd. On the 5th Ticonderoga and Constellation flew the reprisal strikes. Bon Homme Richard flew none of that. The Navy film of that week is titled Simulated Tonkin Gulf Incident. It was staged for the camera. It is not the night of 2 or 4 August. The admiral in Ticonderoga’s CIC is Robert B. Moore.
August 1964 · Moore, Ticonderoga
The part of the reel with Moore, in the CIC and then in the war room with Capt. J. C. Daniels, chief of staff. U.S. Navy film, National Archives, NAID 84048. Staged. Morrison is not in it.
Moore · CIC, Ticonderoga
Moore · CIC, with the watch
War room · with Capt. J. C. Daniels
With Daniels
Moore
Edward J. Drea later went through the Navy’s message traffic for that week — published in MHQ, now at HistoryNet. The chain on the net is Captain John J. Herrick with Maddox and Turner Joy; Rear Admiral Moore, Task Force 77, aboard Ticonderoga; Vice Admiral Roy L. Johnson, Seventh Fleet. Moore’s 10:34 signal on 4 August goes out from Ticonderoga. Constellation is ordered to join her. Bon Homme Richard is not in that traffic. Neither is Captain Morrison.
Moore did not have a famous son. Morrison did. That is most of the explanation.
Rear Admiral Robert B. Moore
Task Force 77, Ticonderoga, August 1964. The man the newspapers named.
Period press · Rear Adm. Robert B. Moore, Task Force 77
“Rear Adm. Robert B. Moore, commander of Task Force 77, told newsmen the force which hit North Vietnamese PT bases and oil storage facility Aug. 5…” They quote Moore. They do not quote Captain Morrison. They do not mention Bon Homme Richard. The mix-up is later, in the rock books.
That week the wires had a correspondent on Ticonderoga. The name they sent home was Moore. Not Morrison. These are some of the papers.
UPI · aboard Ticonderoga
“UPI sent out a dispatch from its correspondent aboard the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga, quoting Rear Admiral Robert B. Moore, commander of the American task force which attacked North Viet Nam last Wednesday.” The ship in the byline is Ticonderoga. The admiral in the byline is Moore.
Same dispatch · the attacking force
The rest of that quote. Moore is “commander of the American Task Force which attacked North Viet Nam last Wednesday.” The papers of that week already knew who ran the strikes. They did not have to invent a name later.
10 August · Moore to UPI
“A statement by Rear Admiral Robert B. Moore, commander of the task force that led the raids… He said on August 10, in an interview with United Press International…” Six days after the second report they are still talking to Moore. Morrison is not in the interview, because he was not in the Gulf.
11 August · “Admiral Tells Of Viet Raid”
Dateline: ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS TICONDEROGA, Aug. 11. Compiled from AP and UPI. “Rear-Admiral Robert B. Moore said yesterday the U.S. attack on North Viet-Nam last Wednesday…” Then: “Moore is the commander of the American strike task force, now cruising off Viet-Nam.” Two planes lost from Constellation, sister ship of Ticonderoga. The carriers in the story are those two. Bon Homme Richard is not one of them.
UPI · “Admiral Says Broadcast By LBJ Did Not Help North Vietnamese”
Fuller UPI from the same visit. Aboard Ticonderoga. Moore is “the commander of the American strike task force now cruising off Viet Nam.” Newsmen went to Ticonderoga and talked to him. If the man on that deck had been Captain Morrison, this is the paper that would have had his name. It has Moore’s.
21 August 1964 · Evansville Press
Still that month. Robert B. Moore, aboard Ticonderoga. Not Morrison.
25 August 1985 · Tampa Tribune
Moore’s obituary. Rear admiral. Task Forces 90 and 77. The man the 1964 papers named. Morrison is not in it.
How it stays in print
Oliver Stone’s The Doors, 1991. New Haven, 9 December 1967, backstage. Kathleen Quinlan as Patricia Kennealy. She has called his father. The line, as written: “An Admiral in the United States Navy. Who’s at the Gulf of Tonkin when Vietnam starts. Your Dad’s a Deputy Chief of Operations.” Then: never lie to me again about your father.
Stone puts Tonkin in her mouth. Not a reconstruction of 2 August. One sentence, 1991, seventeen years before the New York Times obituary.
George Stephen Morrison now calls it a popular myth. His ship, the page says, was in Japanese waters on 2–4 August, on the run from Sasebo to Yokosuka. The carrier at Tonkin was Ticonderoga, under Rear Admiral Robert B. Moore. That matches the logs. Jim Morrison still has the old line: “His father Admiral Morrison was commanding U.S. naval forces during the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964.” He was a captain that month.
The ship’s own page, USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), calls it a popular myth and names Ticonderoga as the carrier involved. That much matches the logs. It still styles him Admiral and has him flying his flag — a flag officer’s phrase. In August 1964 he was the commanding officer. Captains do not fly flags.
The Navy’s own photo file does not help. NH 97344 is still captioned “USS Bon Homme Richard in the Tonkin Gulf, 2 November 1964.” The log for that Monday: Sherman Pier, Yokosuka. She was not in both places. A wrong date on an official photograph is enough. People copy the caption and the story walks on.
2 November 1964 · moored, Yokosuka
Monday 2 November. Moored starboard side to berth 8, Sherman Pier, Yokosuka, Japan, six lines doubled. Ranger and Oklahoma City in port. SOPA is ComCarDiv Three. This is the Monday NH 97344 still files as Tonkin Gulf.
NH 97344 · the caption is wrong
Under the picture: “USS Bon Homme Richard in the Tonkin Gulf, 2 November 1964.” Description: “Operating in the Gulf of Tonkin, 2 November 1964.” Same Monday as the log above. Yokosuka, not Tonkin.
The logs and the newspapers from that week line up. Morrison was not at Tonkin. Moore was.
The same case, short, is on X.
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