On May 27, 1965, the United States Navy initiated its first bombardment of National Liberation Front (NLF) targets within South Vietnam, marking a significant escalation in U.S. military involvement in the conflict. The operation was conducted by American destroyers, which targeted suspected NLF positions primarily along the coastal areas of South Vietnam. This action reflected a strategic shift as U.S. military leaders sought to use naval firepower to bolster the capabilities of South Vietnamese forces in their combat against the growing communist insurgency.

The bombardment played a crucial role in the larger context of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, the U.S. increasingly committed itself to halting the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. The involvement of American naval forces represented a tactical expansion of the war, moving from advisory and support roles to direct engagement.

As the bombers targeted NLF installations, the implications of this military action reverberated throughout South Vietnam and beyond. It signaled to both the South Vietnamese government and the NLF that American support in the conflict was intensifying. This act was part of a series of escalatory measures leading to the full-scale deployment of ground troops later that year, fundamentally altering the trajectory of American involvement in Vietnam.