Question

What was the U.S.S. Maddox doing in the Gulf of Tonkin prior to the August 2 attack?
She was on a routine patrol.
She was on an intelligence mission to intercept North Vietnamese communications.
She was retrieving wreckage from the U.S.S. Turner Joy.
She was headed for China's coastline.

Answer 1

She was on a routine patrol
The Gulf of Tonkin was the first part of the DESOTO patrol that only later turned into a naval action that created the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution