Rolling Thunder Assessment

Operation Rolling Thunder was the code name for the systematic bombing of North Vietnam infrastructure and transportation assets. Operations were conducted primarily by the US Air Force and US Naval Aviation.  Air Force operations were primarily staged out of Thailand, while the Navy attacks were launched from positions in the Gulf of Tonkin, called Yankee and Dixie Station. During 1967, CTF 77 (including USS Constellation) operated on Yankee Station.  Exact launch positions for strikes varied from time to  time; a typical location is shown in the map on the right.

Genesis of Rolling Thunder

In March 1964 the CinC Pacific began developing plans for a sustained eight-week air campaign designed to escalate in three stages. This was published at the end of August as CINCPAC OPLAN 37-64, which included the "94 target list". Bridges, rail yards, docks, barracks and supply dumps were all targeted, and selected based on a criterion system considering:

(a) reducing North Vietnamese support of communist operations in Laos and South Vietnam, (b) limiting North Vietnamese capabilities to take direct action against Laos and South Vietnam, and finally (c) impairing North Vietnam’s capacity to continue as an industrially viable state.[19]

Wikiipedia

The effectiveness of Rolling Thunder may be the consummate issue of the conduct of the Vietnam War.  A good summary of the contemporary military viewpoint is given in a series of  documents, "Report on the War in Vietnam,"  jointly authored by CINCPAC, Adm U.S.G. Sharp, and COM, MACV, Gen. W.C. Westmoreland.  One such report, addressing operations in 1967, is attached; see also  Historical Reports.

 All targets to be attacked required specific approval by the White House.  Often, these approvals were made by civilian authorities without military input.  To support the national strategy of applying continuously increasing pressure to the Communists, an additional 15 targets were planned to added each month.

The table below shows how Rolling Thunder (RT) evolved during the summer and fall of 1967.  As the weather improved heading into summer, targets gradually moved North.  In July and August, the Hanoi/Haiphong area was the focus.  Since the target set was implemented gradually, the North Vietnamese had the opportunity to prepare their defenses, eventually implementing the most extensive anti-aircraft defenses on the planet.