The USNS CARD was an old aircraft carrier commissioned way back in 1942, but well, it was an aircraft carrier nonetheless.
In mid-1963, Vietcong secret intelligence inside the port of Saigon informed their commanders that two aircraft carriers named USNS Core and USNS Card frequently moored in the port. Both ships carried huge numbers of helicopters, fighter jets, armored vehicles, artillery, etc. Every time these ships arrived, security around the port was tripled. A full-strength paratrooper battalion blocked the nearby streets, patrol boats sealed off the waterway, secret police searched and arrested any suspects on the flimsiest of evidence, …
However, both ships were to become targets of Vietcong’s 65th Special Operations Group.
On the 29th of December 1963, the USNS Core arrived in Saigon port. After having carefully studied the terrain, one single Vietcong commando named Lam Son Nao made his way into the port by going through 300m of a secret sewer tunnel full of highly toxic machine oil, carrying a time bomb made of 80kg of TNT with him.
He placed the bomb on the hull of the ship then got out via the same tunnel. Unfortunately for the Vietcong (and fortunately for the U.S.), the bomb malfunctioned.
Noticing that there was no explosion at the pre-determined time, the commando went back to the USNS Core, removed the bomb from the ship and brought it back to base. (Why didn’t he simply carry another bomb with him to replace the malfunctioned one? Because the Vietcong did not have limitless supply of explosives). Despite the failure, the whole bombing plot was still a secret.
Then on the 1st of May 1964, the USNS Card arrived in the port. This time, two Vietcong commandos Lam Son Nao and Nguyen Phu Hung, traveled by boat to the secret tunnel, carrying 80kg of TNT and 8kg of C4. But before entering the tunnel, they were detected by South Vietnamese police patrol boats. The commandos confessed that they were smugglers and paid a huge bribery to the ranking police officer who, upon receiving the money, immediately let them go!
The two commandos divided the explosives into 2 parts and attached them just above the waterline near the bilge and the engine compartment on the ship’s starboard side. When they finished, it was 2 AM on the 2nd of May 1964.
One hour later, 2 massive explosions erupted and the USNS Card – an escort carrier that saw distinguished service as a submarine-hunter in the North Atlantic and survived several U-boat attacks during World War II – gradually sank to the bottom of the river, 5 crewmen and 23 aircraft on board were lost. It was the last aircraft carrier in U.S. military history to date sunk by enemy action.
This fact was largely unknown because the USNS Card was sunk in a river and not out in the ocean, therefore it could be re-floated, repaired and 6 months later put back to military service. But it was sunk alright.
The USNS Core – the ship that was almost sunk by Vietcong – in Saigon Port.
