Navy “Stuff”…

The unsung (on purpose) heroes of the intelligence world…

Many sailors and airmen have been lost on ‘missions’ that never existed, or were never actually attributed, their deaths noted as ‘training accidents’ in some cases…

Today, I’d like to draw your attention to two of those ships.

First, and arguably the more ‘famous’ of the two is the USS Pueblo, AGER-2 (Auxiliary General, Environmental Research) a former Army transport, laid down in 1944 and later transferred to the Navy. She was reclassified in 1967 to the AGER class and built out with the ‘correct’ equipment for her mission.

U.S. Navy bureau of Ships – Official U.S. Navy photo USN 1129207 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command

Less than 8 months later, on 23 Jan 1968, she was captured by the North Koreans supposedly for deliberately entered their territorial waters 7.6 nautical miles away from Ryo Island. The United States maintains that the vessel was in international waters at the time of the incident and that any purported evidence supplied by North Korea to support its statements was fabricated.

This plaque, with the USS Pueblo’s emblem was presented to SN L.J. Marshall when they returned from captivity.

U.S. Navy bureau of Ships – Official U.S. Navy photo NH 68501 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command

FN Duane Hodges was killed in the capture of the Pueblo, prior to the docking at Wonson.

The taking of Pueblo and the abuse and torture of its crew during the subsequent 11-month prisoner drama became a major Cold War incident, raising tensions between the western democracies and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and People’s Republic of China.

As usual, the media were no help, as the prisoners were routinely beaten/tortured and it was even worse after this picture with the ensuing caption was released by Time in Feb 1968. The crew had convinced the NORKS that it was the Hawaiian good luck sign…

North Korean picture, reprinted by Time Magazine in February 1968

Finally release on 23 DEC 1968, the crew was directed across the bridge at Panmunjom, Korea, then loaded on busses can carried to the UN compound.

Although both CDR Bucher, all the officers and crew subsequently appeared before a Navy Court of Inquiry. A court-martial was recommended for the CO and the Officer in Charge of the Research Department, for surrendering without a fight and for failing to destroy classified material, but the Secretary of the Navy, John Chafee, rejected the recommendation, stating, “They have suffered enough.”

You can follow this LINK, to read some of the experiences of the Pueblo crewmen.

There are some who tie the Pueblo incident into the Walker spy ring, as the communication and encryption equipment aboard Pueblo was still used until the 1980s due to the amount of systems and upgrades required. There were some indications that Walker was, in fact, never asked for equipment itself, only the keycodes.

The USS Pueblo is still carried as a commissioned ship, even though she sits tied up to a pier in the Taedong River in Pyongyang as part of a museum.

For more information and links, you can visit the Wiki, HERE.

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The second incident, while much more deadly, was over in less than two hours…

According to Israeli sources, at the start of the war on 5 June, General Yitzhak Rabin informed Commander Ernest Carl Castle, the American Naval Attaché in Tel Aviv, that Israel would defend its coast with every means at its disposal, including sinking unidentified ships. Also, he asked the U.S. to keep its ships away from Israel’s shore or at least inform Israel of their exact position. However, USS Liberty’s position was never sent to the Israelis…

The USS Liberty, AGTR-5 (Auxiliary General, Technical Research) was a civilian cargo vessel SS Simmons Victory, a Victory Ship, the US Navy acquired and outfitted as an intelligence collector.

U.S. Navy bureau of Ships – Official U.S. Navy photo 45-166.02.01 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command

She had done patrols for two years before she attacked was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nm northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish on 8 JUN 1967, during the Six Day War.

Sadly, this attack was carried out by the Israeli military, both with multiple aircraft (Mirage and Mystères) attacking and three Motor Torpedo Boats that fired both guns and torpedoes at the Liberty.

Her insignia was very simple and ‘discreet’ if you will… Freedom though Knowledge.

U.S. Navy bureau of Ships – Official U.S. Navy photo NH 83352-KN from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command

Since the US was neutral, she was sent to do SIGINT collections off the coast staying outside territorial waters. Due to concerns, C6F decided to move her further out to 100nm, but due to communications foul ups that message wasn’t received until after the attack.

Commander McGonagle, the CO raised the issue of ship safety and requested a DDG as an escort, but VADM Martin, C6F, refused the request, basically saying the ship had all the ID she needed.

Sadly that proved not to be true…

Even after being overflown by Israeli acft earlier in the morning, a combination of false reports, confusing information and inability of MTB crews to actually calculate speed led to the Israeli air force attacking USS Liberty at 1357L Sinai time.

The Mirages and Mystères made multiple passes, including rockets, cannon and napalm drops until they had used all ammunition. Additionally, and a key point, the ship’s flag was knocked down.

U.S. Navy bureau of Ships – Official U.S. Navy photo USN 1123119 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command

Eight crewmen were killed in the initial attacks and seventy-five injured, while Commander McGonagle, though injured remained in command. He got a message off to C6F, saying they were under attack, and VADM Miller started acft their way then recalled them (reason unknown).

At 1420L, a cease fire was passed via the Israeli command center, based on a possible ID as an American ship. at 1435L, the MTBs attacked, firing a spread of five torpedoes, one of which impacted the starboard forward side killing 25 more sailors and intel specialists, wounded many more.

The MTBs continued their attacks using guns and cannons, including strafing damage control parties and crewmen trying to launch life rafts. A final cease fire was ordered at 1530L, as USS Saratoga’s acft were in route (once again recalled).

USS Liberty was able to stay afloat, and was met by destroyers USS Davis and USS Massey, and the cruiser USS Little Rock, who transferred medical personnel across to treat the wounded. They also escorted Liberty to Malta for repairs.

This picture was taken as she neared the pier at Malta, you can see the hole left by the Torpedo and the cannon and missile strikes on the ship and superstructure.

U.S. Navy bureau of Ships – Official U.S. Navy photo NH 87479 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command

Although this event took place 50 years ago, there is still dispute as to whether it was an intentional attack on a known US intel asset (as some profess), or an attack against a supposed (Egyptian) enemy ship. One fact is clear, LBJ and others in power did NOT want a full investigation at the time.

The 34 names are engraved on the National Cryptographic memorial at the NSA, a memorial stone in Arlington Cemetery and this plaque in the Israeli Navy Museum…

Memorial Plaque in Israeli Navy Museum, placed there by the MTB squadron veterans.

The plaque says (translation): “We express deep sorrow for the 34 friends who died from our hands, in combat they should not have been involved, on a ship” – The names of the fallen in the incident – “May their memory be blessed. The veterans of MTB Squadron.”

Commander McGonagle was awarded the Medal Of Honor for his actions as the CO during the incident. He remained on the bridge for 17 hours, refusing treatment until he was satisfied his sailors had been taken care of and they met with the USN destroyers.

For more information and links, you can visit the Wiki, HERE.

 

Comments

Navy “Stuff”… — 15 Comments

  1. Another spy ship, the General Hoyt Vandenberg lies about 120 feet down off the shores of Key West Florida. She still has the parabolic antennas in place, or at least did a few years ago. I absorbed a lot of nitrogen photographing that ship and her “spy” equipment.

    • The Vandenberg was also one of the premier range tracking ships operated by the Air Force Navy (whatever) and used for the space program.

      Loved that ship. She would come to Kwajalein right after a stopover at Pearl and my dad, the AF Liaison Officer, would get a few days supply of fresh milk.

      Got my first black eye following someone too closely on a ladder during a tour of that ship. Beautiful in her own way, doing great work for a great series of programs. Glad she didn’t end up broken up for scrap.

  2. Yep, another screw up by LBJ, and why would VADM Miller not send help? Another reason you cannot mix politics into a military equation. He should have been canned.

  3. I was in High School when the Pueblo was seized. I still remember my outrage that our leaders put a United States Navy ship and her crew in such a hazardous position without adequate backup. Then, to recommend a court martial for the CO for not committing suicide by firing on missile armed patrol boats with only small arms was even more outrageous. At the time I detected the horrific stench of a cover-up, and today the stink still lingers.

  4. Roger- Thanks, I’d forgotten they sunk her as a reef down there!

    WSF- True! He was a politician first, last, and always…

    CP- Good point!

    NRW- That it does, as per usual where intel collectors are involved. Denial is the first thing the pols do… dammit!

  5. The Liberty’s intercepts were also intercepted by US equipment in Turkey at the time. They would, if released, have indicted Gen. Ariel Sharon as a war criminal. I’m not taking sides. That’s just how it happened. The Israelis wanted to hide what they knew that Liberty intercepted — they didn’t know about the US capacity for intercepts in Turkey. Thus the attack.

    Both the Pueblo and Liberty incidents were handled shamefully by USGOV and I equate them to the situation at the US Consulate and CIA base in Benghazi. I am proud to be an American but our leadership has acted with a craven disregard for our people far too often in my experience.

    I’m aware of another situation in Chile where we told Sendero Luminoso where we had a team operating so that they could be wiped out. They found out inconvenient information. Sendero sprang the trap and one man made it out. Then what to do with him when he made his way to the US Embassy in Lima? The surviving team member is a friend of mine of many years who is still alive (remarkably). I had breakfast with him about two weeks ago.

    These matter are not spoken of, but we’ve done a lot of that sort of thing over the years. Pueblo and Liberty are much harder to sweep under the rug.

  6. Will never forget June 1967 as we went to GQ while aboard USS Mattabesset (AOG-52), a gasoline tanker which also carried NSFO. Going to GQ with 3.5″ slow fires and carrying a full load of fuel, and knowing that USS Liberty had been attacked by air and torpedo strikes. We were directed to unrep an ATF and a destroyer that were escorting USS Liberty while enroute to Valetta, Malta. Went onboard the Liberty while in Malta to provide any assistance required and to see if any cross-decking was required to get the ship back to the states. Seeing how machine gun fire was walked up and down the ship was an eye opener for a 19 year old E-3.

  7. Hey Old NFO;

    First off, I would like to make a comment about the U.S.S Pueblo, As I recall way back when you were a newbie seaman, the U.S.S Philadelphia was captured by the Moors in North Africa, Stephen Decatur took a sloop called “the Intrepid” boarded the Philadelphia and torched her and a bunch of other ships in the harbor. A lesson here, I would have sunk the Pueblo, think limpet mine where she was rather than be used as a war trophy from an illegal seizure.
    As far as the U.S.S Liberty, I am a supporter of Israel, but this one stunk like Hillary’s campaign speeches, This was Israel hiding their spoolup for the 6 day war, and the politicians calling back our aircraft rather than let them defend their brothers, same thing happened in Bengazi, what is with democrat politicians..

  8. I took my wife to the National Crytologic Museum a few years back. She saw the plaque and had no idea the Liberty incident happened. Same thing goes for the folks who notice the NSA pamphlet that lists out all of the crytologic folks who have died in the line of duty. “What in the heck happened in June of ’67?” has been asked more than a few times.

  9. Thank-you for these stories.
    I 13-14 when these things happened.
    This helped me understand our history a little more

  10. LL- One of many, you’re right… And as usual, military and intel types were/are ‘expendable’… dammit!

    SCPO- I’ll bet that was pucker time! Thanks for your service and the comment!

    Bob- Yep, lots of ‘history’ of us not leaving them out to dry, but the Dems got in power and things changed…

    DB- Visited there back in the late 80s in conjunction with something else. Quite a few names on that plaque… Just sayin’

    Rick- You’re welcome.