The Mayaguez incident took place between Kampuchea (now Cambodia) and the United States from 12 to 15 May 1975, less than a month after the Khmer Rouge took control of the capital Phnom Penh, ousting the U.S.-backed Khmer Republic. After the Khmer Rouge seized the U.S. merchant vessel in a disputed maritime area, the U.S. mounted a hastily prepared rescue operation. U.S. Marines recaptured the ship and attacked the island of Koh Tang where it was believed that the crew were being held as hostages. Encountering stronger-than-expected defences on Koh Tang, three United States Air Force helicopters were destroyed during the initial assault and the Marines fought a desperate day-long battle with the Khmer Rouge before almost all were evacuated. The Mayaguezs crew were released unharmed by the Khmer Rouge shortly after the attack on Koh Tang began. The names of the Americans killed, including three Marines left behind on Koh Tang after the battle and subsequently executed by the Khmer Rouge, are the last names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Background In 1939 during the French colonial period an administrative line was drawn between Cambodia and French Cochinchina known as the Brevie Line, named after then governor-general of French Indochina Jules Brévié. While not intended to determine sovereignty, the Brevie Line became the de facto maritime border between Cambodia and Vietnam. In 1967 Prince Norodom Sihanouk then Prime Minister of Cambodia agreed with North Vietnam that the borders of Cambodia and Vietnam were those drawn by the French in order to prevent any further Vietnamese claims on Cambodian territory.
Following the Fall of Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 the Khmer Rouge moved to take control of all of Cambodia from the residual Khmer Republic forces. With the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975 the Khmer Rouge demanded that all People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong forces leave their base areas in Cambodia, but the PAVN refused to leave certain areas which they claimed were Vietnamese territory. The PAVN also moved to take control of a number of islands formerly controlled by the now-defunct South Vietnam and other territories and islands contested between Vietnam and Cambodia.
On 1 May 1975 Khmer Rouge forces landed on Phú Quốc which was claimed by Cambodia but controlled by South Vietnam. On 10 May the Khmer Rouge captured the Thổ Chu Islands, where they evacuated and later executed 500 Vietnamese civilians. The PAVN launched a counterattack evicting the Khmer Rouge from Phú Quốc and Thổ Chu and attacked Cambodia's Poulo Wai island.
As part of these island battles, the Khmer Navy actively patrolled Cambodian coastal waters both to stop Vietnamese incursions and also for fear that merchant ships could be used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to supply opponents of the new Khmer Rouge regime. On 2 May the Khmer Navy captured seven Thai fishing boats. On 4 May the Cambodians pursued a South Korean freighter after which the South Korean Transportation Ministry put out a warning about shipping in the area. On 7 May they held a Panamanian vessel near Poulo Wai and questioned its crew before releasing them and their ship after 36 hours. They fired on a Swedish vessel in the same area. On 12 May the Khmer Rouge sent a force to occupy Poulo Wai. Despite these actions no general warning was issued to U.S. merchant shipping.
Cambodia had claimed of territorial waters since 1969 and had boarded ships on this basis. The U.S. did not recognize 12 nautical mile territorial waters claims in 1975, recognizing only , and categorized the waters near Poulo Wai as international sea lanes on the high seas.
Khmer Rouge seize the Mayaguez The crisis began on the afternoon of 12 May 1975, as the U.S. container ship , owned by Sea-Land Service Inc., passed nearby Poulo Wai en route from Hong Kong to Sattahip, Thailand. U.S. military reports state that the seizure took place off the island, but crew members brought evidence in a later legal action that Mayaguez had sailed about off Poulo Wai and was not flying a flag. Poulo Wai Island is located 60 miles off the coast from Sihanoukville and 32 miles from Koh Tang Island.
At 14:18, a Khmer Navy Swift Boat was sighted approaching the Mayaguez. The Khmer Rouge fired across the bow of Mayaguez and when Captain Charles T. Miller ordered the engine room to slow down to manoeuvring speed to avoid the machine-gun fire, the Khmer Rouge then fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) across the bow of the ship. Miller ordered the transmission of an SOS and then stopped the ship. Seven Khmer Rouge soldiers boarded Mayaguez and their leader, Battalion Commander Sa Mean, pointed at a map indicating that the ship should proceed to the east of Poulo Wai.
One of the crew members broadcast a Mayday which was picked up by an Australian vessel. Mayaguez arrived off Poulo Wai at approximately 16:00 and another 20 Khmer Rouge boarded the vessel. Sa Mean indicated that Mayaguez should proceed to Ream on the Cambodian mainland, but Captain Miller showed that the ship's radar was not working and mimed the ship hitting rocks and sinking. Sa Mean radioed his superiors and was apparently instructed to stay at Poulo Wai, dropping anchor at 16:55.
Mayaguez was carrying 107 containers of routine cargo, 77 containers of government and military cargo, and 90 empty containers, all insured for $5 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The Khmer Rouge never inspected the containers, and exact contents have not been disclosed, but Mayaguez had loaded containers from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon nine days before the fall of Saigon. The captain had a U.S. government letter only to be opened in certain emergency circumstances, which he destroyed.
President Ford reacts
Mayaguezs SOS and Mayday signals were picked up by a number of listeners including an employee of Delta Exploration Company in Jakarta, Indonesia, who notified the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. By 05:12 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) the first news of the incident reached the National Military Command Center (NMCC) in Washington, D.C.
President Gerald Ford was informed of the seizure of Mayaguez at his morning briefing with his deputy assistant for national security affairs, Brent Scowcroft. At 12:05 EDT (23:05 Cambodia), a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) was convened to discuss the situation. Meanwhile, the NMCC ordered Admiral Noel Gayler, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (CINCPAC), to launch reconnaissance aircraft to locate Mayaguez. The members of the NSC were determined to end the crisis decisively, believing that the fall of South Vietnam less than two weeks before, and the forced withdrawal of the United States from Cambodia (Operation Eagle Pull) and South Vietnam (Operation Frequent Wind) had severely damaged the U.S. reputation.
They also wished to avoid comparisons to the Pueblo incident of 1968, where the failure to promptly use military force to halt the capture of a U.S. intelligence ship by North Korea led to an eleven-month hostage situation. Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller insisted that "this will be seen as a test case... judged in South Korea," saying further "I think a violent response is in order. The world should know that we will act and that we will act quickly." The Pueblo was not Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s preferred historical analogy, however. Instead, he was thinking of the 1969 EC-121 shootdown by a North Korean military aircraft over the Sea of Japan. Kissinger thought the US reaction to the North Korean downing of the US Navy's EC-121 in international airspace with the loss of all 31 crewmen was exactly what they should avoid. Kissinger later told the security council members, "We assembled forces like crazy. But in the end, we did not do anything."
It was determined that keeping Mayaguez and her crew away from the Cambodian mainland was essential. Since the United States had no diplomatic contact with the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Ford instructed Kissinger to urge the People's Republic of China to persuade the Khmer Rouge to release Mayaguez and her crew.
Following the NSC meeting, the White House issued a press release stating that Ford considered the seizure an act of piracy, though this claim did not have a foundation in maritime law. Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger ordered the military to locate Mayaguez and prevent her movement to the Cambodian mainland, employing munitions (including tear gas and sea mines) if necessary.
Kissinger sent a message to the Chinese Liaison Office in Washington demanding the immediate release of Mayaguez and her crew, but the chief of the Liaison Office refused to accept the note. Kissinger then instructed George H. W. Bush, the head of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing, to deliver the note to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and to pass on an oral message that "The Government of the United States demands the immediate release of the vessel and of the full crew. If that release does not immediately take place, the authorities in Phnom Penh will be responsible for the consequences."
U.S. rescue preparations Following Schlesinger's instructions, P-3 Orion aircraft stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Cubi Point in the Philippines and at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield in Thailand took off to locate Mayaguez. The aircraft carrier , then en route to Australia, was ordered into the area. The destroyer escort and the guided missile destroyer were both ordered to proceed at high speed from the Philippine Sea towards Mayaguezs last known location.
An alert order was sent to 1st Battalion 4th Marines (1/4 Marines) at Subic Bay and to the 9th Marine Regiment on Okinawa. A reinforced company from 1/4 Marines was ordered to assemble at NAS Cubi Point for airlift to Thailand, while a 1,100-man Battalion Landing Team (BLT) assembled in Okinawa.
Locating and stopping Mayaguez On the early morning of 13 May, the P-3 Orions identified large radar returns near Poulo Wai and dropped flares on the suspected location of Mayaguez provoking Khmer Rouge gunfire. Low on fuel, the two Orions returned to base and were replaced with another Orion from Patrol Squadron 17. At 08:16 local time the Orion made a low pass over Poulo Wai positively identifying Mayaguez and again drawing Khmer Rouge gunfire.
Shortly afterwards the Khmer Rouge leader, Sa Mean, ordered Captain Miller to get Mayaguez underway. At 08:45 Mayaguez set off towards the northeast following one of the Swift Boats. The Orion continued to track Mayaguez as it left Poulo Wai. Once the location of Mayaguez was identified, Admiral Gayler ordered the commander of the Seventh Air Force, Lieutenant General John J. Burns, at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, to move combat aircraft to the area.
At 13:00 two unarmed United States Air Force (USAF) F-111 fighter-bombers diverted from a training mission began making low-level high-speed passes by Mayaguez. Once the F-111s had left, Sa Mean ordered Captain Miller to follow the Swift Boats around Koh Tang and drop anchor approximately 1.5 km north of the island. Two F-4 Phantoms soon arrived over Mayaguez and began firing their 20 mm cannon into the water in front of the ship. The F-4s were followed by A-7D Corsairs and more F-111s which continued to fire into the sea in front of and behind the ship indicating that no further movement should be attempted.
At 16:15, the Khmer Rouge ordered Mayaguezs crew onto two fishing boats which then took them closer to the shore of Koh Tang.
U.S. forces assemble U.S. Navy warships Coral Sea, Harold E. Holt and Henry B. Wilson were all scheduled to arrive on station by 15 May, but none of these ships carried any troops. carried a Marine contingent but could not arrive on station until 16 May, while also carried Marines but could not arrive until 18 May.