The USS Liberty Incident,The USS Liberty was a technical ship designed to tap into and record radio

The USS Liberty Incident,The USS Liberty was a technical ship designed to tap into and record radio communications.  Originally a World War II transport (liberty ship), the USS Liberty carried sensitive radio technology which could receive wireless communications from long distances.  In June of 1967, in the midst of the Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, the Liberty was sent to the Sinai Peninsula, dropping anchor 14 miles off the Egyptian coast near Al Arish. The Israeli’s had warned that they would attack any unknown ships in Egyptian or Israeli waters.  The US Navy informed the Israeli Government that they had no ships in the area, neglecting to mention the location of the USS Liberty.On June 8th, Israeli High Command received reports that Israeli troops in Al Arish were being shelled by an Egyptian vessel. An unknown vessel was detected by radar steaming toward Egyptian held territory at a speed of 28 knots, the typical speed of a warship. Israeli planes and torpedo boats were dispatched to deal with the threat.  Two hours later, a pair of Israeli Mirage fighter planes strafed the USS Liberty with their 30 mm cannons and rockets.  When they had expended their ammunition, they were replaced by a pair Dassault Mystere fighter bombers armed with napalm bombs and cannon. The USS Liberty was unarmed with the exception of five machine guns, and thus unable to effectively return fire.  The lack of return fire puzzled Captain Yossi Zuk, leader of the Mystere formation.  After making a strafing run he spotted the “GTR-5” marking on it’s hull.  Egyptian ships typically had Arabic markings.  Capt. Zuk ordered a cease fire.Somehow the torpedo boats didn’t get the cease fire order.  The commander of the torpedo boats, Commander Moshe Oren, identified the ship as an Egyptian supply ship.  The USS Liberty’s communications had been knocked out, thus the Liberty Crew replied to Israeli hails with “AA” flashed from a handheld lamp, which happened to be the same as the standard Egyptian hail.  The Liberty’s captain, Com. William McGonagle, ordered his men to man the machine guns, but ordered his men to hold fire when he spotted boats flying Israeli flags.  Regardless, a pair of machine guns opened fire, thus confirming Com. Oren's suspicion that he was facing an Egyptian ship.  The Israeli boats returned fire with cannon and launched five torpedoes, one of which struck the Liberty. In the aftermath of the attack, the USS Liberty was severely damaged, 34 sailors were killed, and 117 were wounded. Several investigations were made by both the United States and Israeli Governments.  Many of the details of the attack are under dispute and unfortunately hearsay, fuzzy memories, and outright denial mire the case. For example-There is a dispute as to whether the USS Liberty was flying it’s flag.  American crewman claim that their flag was flying, later replaced with a larger flag during the attacks.  Israeli sources claim that no flag was spotted. -American sources claim that Israeli aircraft did not make identification runs. Israeli sources claim they did.-Israeli sources claim the Liberty was traveling at 30 knots, the Liberty could only attain 17.5 knots at full speed.-Some American sailors claim that the aircraft that fired on them had no identifying markings, while other crewman recall seeing Israeli markings.Many other details of the attack are under dispute, leading many to believe that the attack was a deliberate action.  Regardless, both American and Israeli investigations have concluded that the attack was an accident as a result of misidentification leading to a friendly fire incident. In 1968 the Israeli Government paid $3.3 million in compensation to families of the dead, another $3.5 million to the wounded, and $6 million for damages to the USS Liberty. -- source link
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