On May 12, 1975, a Cambodian gunboat carrying communist Khmer Rouge soldiers boarded and seized Mayaguez, a US container ship sailing from Hong Kong to Thailand and passing along the coast of Cambodia. Coming less than two weeks after the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, Washington had no choice but to respond, and it did.
The answer was a rescue mission. The effort, afflicted by rushed planning and poor intelligence, was chaotic. The US didn't know where the communists were holding the Mayaguez crew. Airmen and marines sent into battle found an enemy force much larger than anticipated. They faced withering fire from an entrenched enemy. Moreover, the Air Force helicopter crews were compelled to carry out a mission for which they had no formal training.
The ship and its crew were recovered, but the cost—in lost service lives and damaged equipment—was high.
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