Viet Nam: Remember the Card!

Although Saigon had been ready for trouble and had taken special precautions against terrorism by the Communist Viet Cong, May Day had come and gone quietly. But at 5 the next morning, the South Vietnamese capital was jolted by a roar from the harbor. There, the 9,800-ton U.S. aircraft-transport ship Card was sinking fast —it touched bottom in just 24 minutes—into the silt of the Saigon River, a 28-ft. by 3-ft. hole ripped in her starboard side. Apparently Viet Cong agents had placed plastic charges on the hull 10 ft. below the water line.

Of 73 crewmen,...

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