June 8, 1967 USS Liberty attacked

[jw33]

On June 8, 1967 while patrolling in international waters[2] in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was savagely attacked without warning or justification by air and naval forces of the state of Israel.[3]

Of a crew of 294 officers and men[4] (including three civilians)[5], the ship suffered thirty four (34) killed in action and one hundred seventy three (173) wounded in action.[6] The ship itself, a Forty Million ($40,000,000) Dollar state of the art signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform, was so badly damaged that it never sailed on an operational mission again and was sold in 1970 for $101,666.66 as scrap[7] .

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http://www.gtr5.com/about.htm

[Vertnut]

This was right after the "six-day war", I believe? Pretty sad deal.

[Moose242]

Shhhh, don't criticize Israel on here or you'll be branded a racist.

[Vertnut]

Shhhh, don't criticize Israel on here or you'll be branded a racist.

Only applies to you.

[S_K]

the rest of the story

In the late seventies, I ended up serving on (and flying a few missions off) a sister ship to the Liberty. While aboard the CPO told us the rest of the story. I will try to clear up some inconssistencies in the original article.

1. The Israelis fired on a known US Navy ship.
The USS Liberty was a converted WWII troop ship. Most were either mothballed, scrapped, or sold every other navy in the world including many in the Mediterainan Sea. The Liberty was a spy ship that was highly modified and did not resemble any normal ship in the US Navy. It carried no designation other than GTR-5 on the bow. (a classifed designation and unknown to the IDF) Israeli pilots would not have recognized this as a US Navy ship.

2. The Liberty was in international waters.
True, however the IDF designated a 20 mile combat zone. The US was repeatedly warned not to stray into the combat zone. The entire Sixth Fleet retreated from the combat zone with the exception of the Liberty which was ordered to stay on station. The captain requested a destroyer escort in case it ran into trouble. The request was denied.

3. The Liberty was fired upon without warning
The IDF tried to hail the ship but recieved no replies. They did eight flybys (the international sign of get the hell out of here) including one bomber run so close "it rattled the deck plates". The Liberty did not retreat until it was fired on. By their own accounts, they simply waved at the aircraft.

4. The Liberty should not have been designated as a target.
At that time, radar targets were designated by size and speed. The IDF claims the Liberty was sailing at 20 Nmph. Freighters can not obtain this speed so it was designated as a warship and therefore a threat. The US Navy claimed this was not possible. That is false. The Liberty was capable of well in excess of 20 nmph. It was able to steam from 11.7 miles from shore (where it was first attacked) to 17 miles (where it was attacked by torpedo boats) in a few short minutes. The torpedo boat captains claimed that the Liberty was so fast they did not think that they would ever catch it. Indeed if the engines had not failed, they would not have.

5. The Israelis fired on the USS Liberty by mistake.
False. The Egyptians were abled to blow up an ammo dump and the on-site radio operator falsely reported they were being shelled. The only warship in the area capable of doing this was the Liberty. The IDF mounted a full scale attack on what they thought was an enemy ship with fighers, bombers, torpedo boats, and helicopters. Their policy at that time was no quarter. This meant - sink the ship and allow no survivors to escape.

The US Navy never admitted any error in judgement for the attack. The Israelis issued a weak apology and quietly paid the survivors 17 million in compensation.

[Vertnut]

In the late seventies, I ended up serving on (and flying a few missions off) a sister ship to the Liberty. While aboard the CPO told us the rest of the story. I will try to clear up some inconssistencies in the original article.

1. The Israelis fired on a known US Navy ship.
The USS Liberty was a converted WWII troop ship. Most were either mothballed, scrapped, or sold every other navy in the world including many in the Mediterainan Sea. The Liberty was a spy ship that was highly modified and did not resemble any normal ship in the US Navy. It carried no designation other than GTR-5 on the bow. (a classifed designation and unknown to the IDF) Israeli pilots would not have recognized this as a US Navy ship.

2. The Liberty was in international waters.
True, however the IDF designated a 20 mile combat zone. The US was repeatedly warned not to stray into the combat zone. The entire Sixth Fleet retreated from the combat zone with the exception of the Liberty which was ordered to stay on station. The captain requested a destroyer escort in case it ran into trouble. The request was denied.

3. The Liberty was fired upon without warning
The IDF tried to hail the ship but recieved no replies. They did eight flybys (the international sign of get the hell out of here) including one bomber run so close "it rattled the deck plates". The Liberty did not retreat until it was fired on. By their own accounts, they simply waved at the aircraft.

4. The Liberty should not have been designated as a target.
At that time, radar targets were designated by size and speed. The IDF claims the Liberty was sailing at 20 Nmph. Freighters can not obtain this speed so it was designated as a warship and therefore a threat. The US Navy claimed this was not possible. That is false. The Liberty was capable of well in excess of 20 nmph. It was able to steam from 11.7 miles from shore (where it was first attacked) to 17 miles (where it was attacked by torpedo boats) in a few short minutes. The torpedo boat captains claimed that the Liberty was so fast they did not think that they would ever catch it. Indeed if the engines had not failed, they would not have.

5. The Israelis fired on the USS Liberty by mistake.
False. The Egyptians were abled to blow up an ammo dump and the on-site radio operator falsely reported they were being shelled. The only warship in the area capable of doing this was the Liberty. The IDF mounted a full scale attack on what they thought was an enemy ship with fighers, bombers, torpedo boats, and helicopters. Their policy at that time was no quarter. This meant - sink the ship and allow no survivors to escape.

The US Navy never admitted any error in judgement for the attack. The Israelis issued a weak apology and quietly paid the survivors 17 million in compensation.

This is the the reason I mentioned the "six day war". Things were VERY tense and all of Israel was on high alert. Not an excuse, but definitely extreme circumstances.