Solving the Pueblo mystery

The Washington Times ^ | 1-23-06 | James G. Zumwalt

[JZelle]

An international incident 38 years ago this month remains shrouded in mystery. On the bitterly cold morning of Jan. 23, 1968, an American intelligence vessel, USS Pueblo, was operating in international waters off the coast of North Korea. It was surrounded by four North Korean patrol boats, with two MiG aircraft flying overhead. The boats ordered the Pueblo to stop and let the North Koreans board. The order was refused. The Pueblo headed further out to sea. The North Korean boats immediately opened fire. Armed with only a 50-caliber gun secured from the freezing temperatures by a tarp, the Pueblo was unable to fight back.

[robowombat]

This is a troubling chapter in USN history. While in the 18th century there was no dishonor in striking colors to an enemy with overwhelming force advantage in the ideological struggles of the post 1914 era it would be thought that USN officer in command of a US vessel on the high seas would not submit to an enemy such as the NKs without making them sink his vessel. I wasn't there and do not like to second guess officers on the spot in charge but Cdmr Bucher's example would strike me as not one to recommend itself to other officers in command.

[gaijin]

I believe that Richard Marcinko (the former S.E.A.L. author of, "Red Cell", and many others) was dispatched right after the Pueblo's capture to attempt to destroy any cryptography equipment that remained onboard.

I vaguely recall that they did get aboard, but found that the equipment had already been removed. The vessel was being kept tied-up dockside in a very obvious place, amazingly.

They had to boogy out of their real quick, and I remember that there was a little bit of shooting.

[ASA Vet]

MI Ping

[albee]

bump for later read

[hdstmf]

Admiral Elmo was a total loser as CNO. He spent a lot of time on trivia. I think he was the one who was hung up on doing away with the traditional bell-bottom navy uniforms.
This fawning post of him is disgusting.

[hdstmf]

Hey! LBJ was definitely a world-class tur*. Most of us Texans were ashamed to use his name and Texan in the same sentence.

[ThanhPhero]

There was a book a few years ago that made the case that the Pueblo was deliberately put in an enticing position and allowed to be captured in order to permit the capture of certain American code equipment. The Russians and their proxies felt they had a bonanza in the captured equipment but did not have the capabilities to reverse engineer it so they just used it and copied it to use throughout their empire. It should have given them breakproof coding abilities except that the equipment had a flaw addded in that permitted our side to read all the traffic encoded with that gear. It is a fact that equipment was NOT destroyed prior to capture as the ops on that ship were intensely trained to do. I did that work in the AF on RC135s and I know what the training and directives were and it was an easy thing to do. Apparently the Red radio traffic that went through this equipment was, indeed read by our NSA for some years after the Pueblo incident. I cannot remember the name of the book or the author and cannot find it online.

The Blues Image song Mystery Ship was about that incident and I always wondered if one of those boys was on the Pueblo or another such ship or A/C. I still play that asong when I get nostalgic .

[Semper Paratus]

Governor Reagan said at the time we should have went in and towed it out.

[MineralMan]

"I also remember the incident. I was part of the national intelligence community at the time. "

I was, too. Sadly, I am still prohibited from discussing any of the details of the Pueblo incident. I don't suppose that prohibition will ever go away.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"Most of us Texans were ashamed to use his name and Texan in the same sentence.">

However a lot of us Texans are not above naming our dogs after his wife!

Kill A Commie For Mommie
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes

[ThanhPhero]

There was a book a few years ago that made the case that the Pueblo was deliberately put in an enticing position and allowed to be captured in order to permit the capture of certain American code equipment. The Russians and their proxies felt they had a bonanza in the captured equipment but did not have the capabilities to reverse engineer it so they just used it and copied it to use throughout their empire. It should have given them breakproof coding abilities except that the equipment had a flaw addded in that permitted our side to read all the traffic encoded with that gear. It is a fact that equipment was NOT destroyed prior to capture as the ops on that ship were intensely trained to do. I did that work in the AF on RC135s and I know what the training and directives were and it was an easy thing to do. Apparently the Red radio traffic that went through this equipment was, indeed read by our NSA for some years after the Pueblo incident. I cannot remember the name of the book or the author and cannot find it online.

The Blues Image song Mystery Ship was about that incident and I always wondered if one of those boys was on the Pueblo or another such ship or A/C. I still play that song when I get nostalgic .

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We lived in Yokohama in the 1950s-60s and had a friend of the family who worked for NSA. "No Such Agency," he always called it.

[Joe Boucher]

Yeah man but it helped the economy.

[Red Badger]

Ride Captain Ride
Open
1970 mp3
Seventy-three men sailed up
From the San Francisco Bay,
Rolled off of their ship
And here's what they had to say.
"We're callin' everyone to ride along
To another shore,
We can laugh our lives away
and be free once more."

But no one heard them callin',
No one came at all,
'Cause they were too busy watchin'
Those old raindrops fall.
As a storm was blowin'
Out on the peaceful sea,
Seventy-three men sailed off
To history.
Ride, captain ride
Upon your mystery ship,
Be amazed at the friends
You have here on your trip.
Ride captain ride
Upon your mystery ship,
On your way to a world
That others might have missed.
(Instrumental)
Seventy-three men sailed up
From the San Francisco Bay,
Got off their ship
And here's what they had to say.
"We're callin' everyone to ride along
To another shore,
We can laugh our lives away
And be free once more."
Ride, captain ride
Upon your mystery ship,
Be amazed at the friends
You have here on your trip.
Ride, captain ride
Upon your mystery ship,
On your way to a world
That others might have missed.
Ride, captain ride
Upon your mystery ship,
Be amazed at the friends
You have here on your trip

[ThanhPhero]

I worked for the AF subsidiary at Kadena in 1970 and at smaller units in Viet Nam in 68-69.

[Red Badger]

Then Kruschev was right?......

[Bear_Slayer]

Like we did in 2001 when the chinese forced our spy plane down?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Actually, the plane wasn't a spy plane and the Red Chinese didn't force it down.

[A.A. Cunningham]

This fawning post of him is disgusting.

You need to adjust your brain housing group, grandma. I provided background on the author and mentioned he was the son of the former CNO. Nowhere is Elmo Jr. fawned over. The fact that Elmo Zumwalt Jr. was a piss poor CNO for a number of reasons more pertinent than whether or not squids wore bell bottoms, isn't germane. LtCol Zumwalt isn't responsible for the actions of Admiral Zumwalt. Understand, gomer?

[Bear_Slayer]

Unless the reports have been corrected, or you are in the secret circle, it was a spy plane.

And while technically correct, it wasn't forced down (that we are told about, but then again, you may be in the secret circle) it did collide with a chinese fighter, which had scrambled to intercept it and was forced to land on chinese soil.