Lý Thường Kiệt
By the morning of 19 January 1974, the Chinese had four corvettes and two submarine chasers at the Paracels, while the South Vietnamese had "Lý Thường Kiệt", "Trần Bình Trọng", the frigate , and the corvette on the scene. "Trần Bình Trọng" landed South Vietnamese troops on Duncan Island (or Quang Hoa in Vietnamese), and they were driven off by Chinese gunfire. The South Vietnamese ships opened fire on the Chinese ships at 10:24 hours, and the 40-minute Battle of the Paracel Islands ensued. "Nhật Tảo" was sunk, and the other three South Vietnamese ships all suffered damage, "Lý Thường Kiệt" being one of the most heavily damaged ships; Chinese losses were more difficult to ascertain, but certainly most or all of the Chinese ships suffered damage and one or two may have sunk. Not equipped or trained for open-ocean combat and outgunned, the South Vietnamese ships were forced to withdraw.