page_title: Cochinchina Campaign
section_title: The Qui Nhơn incident
hierarchical_section_title: Cochinchina Campaign / The Qui Nhơn incident
caption_attribution_description: English: Side wheel steamer USS Saginaw, built at the Navy Yard, Mare Island, California, in 1859. Depicted at at Mare Island Naval Yard, circa 1860.
context_page_description: The Cochinchina Campaign; is the common designation for a series of military operations between 1858 and 1862, launched by a joint naval expedition force on behalf of the French Empire and the Kingdom of Spain against the Nguyễn dynasty of Đại Nam. Initially a limited punitive expedition against the persecution and execution of French Catholic missionaries in Đại Nam, the ambitious French emperor Napoleon III however, authorized the deployment of increasingly larger contingents, that subdued Đại Nam territory and established French economic and military dominance. The war concluded with the founding of the French colony of Cochinchina and inaugurated nearly a century of French imperialism and protectorate in Vietnam in particular and Indochina in general.
context_section_description: On 31 July 1861 the Vietnamese fort protecting Qui Nhơn city was destroyed by the USS Saginaw, a warship of the United States Navy. Under the command of Captain James F. Schenck a task force had been dispatched to Cochinchina in search of missing American citizens and sailors of the merchant ship Myrtle.
  The ship encountered cannon fire from the fort's garrison upon entering and anchoring at Qui Nhơn harbour. The Saginaw flew a white flag of neutrality, signalling no hostile intentions, but the fire continued. Eventually Schenck gave orders to withdraw to a secure position and responded with an hour long bombardment. Fire from the fort ceased after forty minutes and its walls collapsed shortly after. US forces reported no damage or casualties. As communication with the Vietnamese fort's garrison could at no time be established and the missing American sailors could not be found, the USS Saginaw retreated towards Hong Kong on the same day.
caption: USS Saginaw at Mare Island naval yard
exif: {}