RADAS SPOTS UNEXPLAINED

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30553, 23 September 1964, Page 17

RADAS SPOTS UNEXPLAINED

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, September 22.

American destroyers were out of the Gulf of Tonkin today but what they hit there if anything remains a mystery.

The two warships which fired on radar-spotted targets on Friday have been withdrawn from the gulf after finishing their patrol on schedule.

It is not known when another destroyer patrol will sail into the gulf but government officials say American vessels will continue to exercise the right to roam international waters. The United States warships have been going into the gulf periodically in spite of three incidents since August 2. The latest shooting occurred in the dark on Friday when the American destroyers opened fire on what appeared to be menacing craft showing on their radar screens. Officials said the radar definitely locked onto solid objects. No Return Fire There was no return fire and the objects disappeared from the screens. Investigation has produced no evidence of hits, such as debris or floating bodies. A navy team has gone to the Far East to make an inquiry. It is not expected

back until late next week. The Soviet news agency Tass said yesterday the Americans fired at five ships, sinking three of them. This surprised Washington officials, including President Johnson, who said reporters had all the information the United States Government had on the Tass story. The United States would insist that the Communists of North Vietnam and China realise that the gulf was an international body of water—not a “Communist lake,” the Secretary of State, Mr Rusk, said in Los Angeles. Soviet Feeler

Some people think the Russians may be putting out the Tass story in an effort to “prod” more information out of the American Government. A Tass official said in Moscow that the information came from American sources but did not specify them. Tass officials jn Washington said their story from Washington spoke of the destroyers firing on radar phantoms. In Saigon, the general strike went into its second day today but appeared nearing an end.