The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club

Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War

By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Narrated by: Christopher Ragland

Bloomsbury presents The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, read by Christopher Ragland.

This book tells the full story of the US Naval air campaign during the Vietnam War between 1965 to 1975, where the US Seventh Fleet, stationed off the Vietnamese coast, was given the tongue-in-cheek nickname 'The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club'.

On August 2, 1964, USS Maddox became embroiled in the infamous 'Gulf of Tonkin incident’ that lead directly to America's increased involvement in the Vietnam War. Supporting the Maddox that day were four F-8E Crusaders from the USS Ticonderoga, signalling the start of the US Navy’s commitment to the air war over Vietnam.

The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club was the nickname for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, Task Force 77, stationed off the coast of Vietnam which, at various points throughout the war, comprised as many as six carriers with 70–100 aircraft on board. The Seventh Fleet played an essential role in supporting operations over Vietnam, providing vital air support to combat troops on the ground and taking part in major operations such as Rolling Thunder and Linebacker I and II.

Serving with the US Seventh Fleet during this period and involved in the dramatic history of The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club was author Tom Cleaver, who was a 20-year-old member of Commander Patrol Forces Seventh Fleet which had operational control over Maddox and Turner Joy. His use of dramatic first-hand experiences from interviews with both American and Vietnamese pilots plus official Vietnamese accounts of the war provides a balanced and personal picture of the conflict from both sides. Detailing the very earliest incident in the Gulf of Tonkin through to the final evacuation of US nationals in 1975, he brings the story of US air intervention into Vietnam vividly to life.©2021 Thomas McKelvey Cleaver (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

The Vietnam War was my war, by which I mean I fought in it, and I can say that Thomas Cleaver in his Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club examines the war in an unparalleled way through the lens of aviation and its aviators. He illustrates the inevitable agony and sacrifice, thrill and triumph of the young men immersed in that saga. It all makes for a riveting read. (Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, US Army (Ret.), soldier, diplomat and late Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary)

Tom Cleaver has captured the dramatic history of Naval Aviation’s combat record in Vietnam in a manner worthy of the classic historical novel. From the first shot fired in the Tonkin Gulf in August 1964 to the final salvo in January 1973, Tom weaves an accurate tale, full of the color and fury of battle, courage, suspense, and thrill of victory – as experienced and portrayed on both sides of the conflict. (Captain Roy Cash, Jr., USN (Ret.), Former CO, Top Gun)

Tom Cleaver’s book is a superb study of Naval Aviation's experiences during the Vietnam War. Tom’s in-depth focus and analysis of personal inputs from aircrews on both sides of the conflict coupled with the ever-changing political environment make it a high-powered book that is difficult to put down. (Rear-Admiral James A. “Jim” Lair, USN (Ret.), former commanding officer, USS America)

With equal measures of aeronautical detail, historical perspective, and gripping action, Tom Cleaver has crafted an authoritative and balanced account of the Navy’s Vietnam air war. Readers will be amazed by the recall and revelations of the Naval Aviators interviewed, profiled and portrayed. This is a gripping narrative combined with a definitive historical and technical reference. (David Sears, author of 'Such Men as These: The Story of the Navy Pilots Who Flew the Deadly Skies over Korea')

This gripping narrative that grabs the attention from the very first page is complimented with an eight-page section of mainly colour photographs and several maps. It will appeal greatly to both the general reader as well as aviation ‘buffs.’ Highly recommended.” (Andy Thomas)

amazing research

this book covers all the fixed wing operations in Vietnam. he did amazing research.

Good book

The book was very good, but his next book should about the Reagan Navy from 1981 to 1989. How we learned no lessons from Vietnam and did everything wrong again.

Excellent

Well researched and incredibly thorough. McKelvey Cleaver paints an incredible picture of naval aviation in Vietnam. A must read for any amateur historian or student of history.

Excellent but exhausting

I wish I could give the book 5 stars for the section after chapter 4, three stars in the section before, and four stars for the narration. The first four chapters are an exhaustingly detailed narrative about the development of aircraft, engines, and some politics. It does go into the original golf of Tonkin incident and explains the complexity of what happened then. The first four chapters go into such detail about designations of each engine iteration and identification that it should’ve just all been a gigantic appendix. You have to listen through interminable levels of minutia, which you could skim in a printed version, but you don’t know how far to jump ahead in the audio version. After that the book gets quite interesting, at least for me because I was interested more in the flying and the carrier war than in the development of each jet engine and letter by letter development of airframes in the Korean War.

The rest of the book goes into great detail about the flying, the aircraft, the politics and the overall course of the naval aviation war in Vietnam. This was all quite fascinating, and again intensely detailed but compelling.

The narration drove me crazy in the first four chapters because the narrator down speaks at the end of most sentences. This narration became tedious to listento because it sounded so repetitive, although this was in part due to the content. When the narrator got into these chapters after chapter 4 his narration changed and became more dynamic which changed listening to the book for the better.

Overall I recommend it, and I have read other books by Cleaver about WWII carrier aviation which were first rare.

Great read

Great as I was on the Coral Sea at this time and was in all the actions from 72 till76

Tonkin Gulf

I have enjoyed listening to this book and I believe that you will enjoy it too

Facinating Account of the Air War in Vietnam

I couldn't put it down. This is a very well written and comprehensively researched history of the US involvement in the Vietnam "Conflict".
EXCELLENT!

Good for Aviation and History Enthusiasts

This book covers the US Naval Aviation in Vietnam from a number it angles. It follows the technical evolution of the aircraft and weapons, the tactics used, as well as an almost play by play account of major events in the war. I’m an aviation fan and learned some new info out of it so I like it in that regard. I think it could have benefited by going a little deeper in some areas.

Full of information

This is a really good listen. Packed full of information about Naval Aviation in Vietnam. The only thing I didn't like is the way the narrator handled certain acronyms. Like RIO, would be said "Ree-Oh" in conversation but the narrator would spell it out each time. Otherwise it was really good.

Tired drivel

What a load of insufferable drivel. I Stopped before the end of the third chapter where the author posses the rhetorical question, after saying subliminal racism whatever that is exactly was behind the bombings in Asia, “Would we have undertaken our bombing policy if the enemy were white?” The answer is yes we would have. Does the author not remember how many Germans burned to death in multi thousand ship bombings raids in Europe? The difference is the Germans surrendered. Dehumanization of the enemy is something everyone does. The Vietnamese called the Americans apes. So what? It’s not the basic cause of policy, “subliminal” “unconscious” or otherwise.

The author asserts the reason North Korea won’t come to terms with the West is because we killed so many north Korean citizens. That’s it, apparently.

The author states that Kennedy was a victim of McCarthy and red baiting and implies that he was powerless to not act against North Viet Nam. I think he’s read too much Halberstam.

Book looked promising and I suspect there’s good technical content but I couldn’t stand the nonsensical assertions any longer.