Background
The United States had largely disengaged from the Vietnam War when North Vietnam launched its Easter Offensive into South Vietnam in March 1972. In response, the United States Air Force and U.S. Navy launched a major bombing offensive against North Vietnam. In addition, President of the United States Richard Nixon ordered the Commander-in-Chief, United States Pacific Fleet, Admiral Bernard A. Clarey, and the Commander-in-Chief, United States Seventh Fleet, Vice Admiral James L. Holloway, to begin a mining campaign against Haiphong and other North Vietnamese ports. The mining campaign, by U.S. Navy and United States Marine Corps attack aircraft from American aircraft carriers, began on 8 May 1972, and over the next several months laid thousands of mines in North Vietnamese waters.
Eventually, North Vietnam and the United States negotiated an end to the war and signed the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam on 27 January 1973. A protocol to the agreement called for the United States to neutralize American mines in North Vietnam's coastal and inland waterways.
Read more about this topic: Operation End Sweep
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