On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox reported an attack from three Communist North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin off the North Vietnamese coast. The Maddox was there to provide electronics intelligence support for commando raids by South Vietnamese forces equipped and trained by the United States. The torpedo attacks caused no damage, and the torpedo boats withdrew. However, two days later, on August 4, sailing in turbulent weather some eight miles off the North Vietnamese coast, the Maddox and the Turner Joy, another U.S. destroyer, initially believed that they might be under attack by torpedo boats. They retracted this when no sign of North Vietnamese vessels were detected, and it was then thought that false signals on the radar screens had been caused by weather conditions. Considerable doubt has persisted over whether there ever was an attack (the North Vietnamese government denied it), and what actually occurred remains a subject of controversy to this day.