Posted on 06/11/2018 4:32:03 PM PDT by jazusamo
The USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy, sits in Boston, revered by sailors and history buffs.
The second-oldest ship, the USS Pueblo, floats at a river dock in Pyongyang, still a hostage more than 50 years after North Korea seized it in a January 1968 raid in the frigid waters of the East Sea off the Hermit Kingdom’s northeastern coast.
Calls from the surviving crew to bring the ship back have amounted to naught. The Colorado legislature, protective of the ship named after one of its cities, also weighs in every year with a resolution calling for the ship’s return.
After one version passed 10 years ago, a state lawmaker got a postcard, featuring a photo of a North Korean soldier smashing his rifle butt against the head of a Western-looking man in a blue uniform. The card had a North Korean postmark and on it, in flawless English, the writer urged the politician to “come and take it, you dirty American.”
That’s actually the polite version of what was written, according to Republican state Sen. Bob Gardner from Colorado Springs, one of the sponsors of the “bring home the Pueblo” resolution this year. Mr. Gardner still marvels at the perfect, idiomatic English written on the unsigned card.
“But it proved that someone in Korea was watching our resolution even if no one in America does,” Mr. Gardner said.
As President Trump meets with in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, the possession of the USS Pueblo remains a sticking point between the two nations.
The Pentagon declined to comment on any efforts to get the Pueblo back, and referred all questions to the White House. The White House, in turn, did not respond.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I think we all know what he meant. :^)
Probably way too late for that! The Norks have had the Pueblo for 50 years. Another one of LBJ’s classic failures.
I understand the symbolism, but we got caught spying. We are lucky they didn’t sink it. 50 years have passed. If we are going to move forward there are some things that have to wait.
The crypto gear on the USS Pueblo was also compromised by the Walker Spy Ring.
= = = = = = = = = = =
I normally don’t ‘buy’ conspiracy theories BUT I read a pretty detailed account of the Pueblo that we (NSA) had ‘planted’ a TTY on board with a glitch on it as we were suspecting Russia of ‘reading our mail’...Yes, It was about the birth of the ‘Walker gang’ ...
According to the theory, we were correct about Russia etc
‘The Pueblo Surrender’ by Robert Liston (available Kindle etc)
I hoo the president shows Kim the Hawaiian good luck sign.
No, the Constellation is a revenue cutter, not a frigate.
Ha! I think PDJT would come a lot closer to showing it to him than bambam if things go south, bammy only shows it to us.
Can we trade the USS McCain?
Capt. Burcher should have taken his suicide pill.
She was not a revenue cutter. USS Constellation was built in 1854 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for the Navy. She was classed as a sloop of war. She was also the last all sail powered ship built for the Navy.
She was not a sister ship to the Constitution. She was authorized by the same appropriations bill as was Constitution and five other frigates. Constellation carried fewer guns, had a smaller displacement, was shorter in length, narrower in beam, and carried a smaller crew then Constitution.
I think that’s the best solution, and should have been done a long time ago.
I did too. But I just couldn’t let it pass.
The Devil made me do it! :>)
LOL, I KNOW you know...
Taking a drink for the men of the USS Pueblo, and CDR Bucher. Now.
why, once USS McCain is repaired she will be a usable warship. Nothing can be done to USS Pueblo to make her of any use to the Navy. All the Navy would do is sell her to the breakers.
I don’t drink much anymore. But I felt compelled. Just a shot of rum.
Sigh. I always thought my Dad and CDR Bucher had much in common, and Bucher was railroaded by the USN, IMO. I always felt bad for him...and his wife.
He can ride it down the river in July.
Eh. I don’t think that is it. I think the USS Pueblo should be buried at sea, out in the Pacific. Cut her rusty veins and let the water run in.
I admit to being sentimental about ships. I have always felt, even from when I was a kid, that they were more than just metal and gray paint. It has always made me melancholy to see rusty old warships just waiting to be broken up.
I saw a picture some yeas back of a WWII heavy cruiser being cut up for scrap, and they had taken her bow off back to turret #1. It bothered me. There was something more to it than just blowtorches cutting off metal...almost as if a face had been disfigured by cutting off the nose.
But I know it is just sentimentality. It is a flaw I have.
I read it.
I could buy some of it...it was an imperfect time. Vietnam...the Cold War, typical military inefficiency and clumsiness...sending a ship, hopelessly unfit for the job, her steering and seaworthiness marginal at best...a sad time.
And we put her in harm’s way without backup by sending her into the sphere of a country that was on the whole nearly psychotically unpredictable. The whole thing was just sad to me.
>>I stand corrected. I was always told it was still carried on the active rolls<<
I used a bit if my Google fu and came up with this:
“The Uss Arizona Is Still On Duty
The Ship And Its Entombed Sailors Silently Guard The Memories.”
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2001-06-24/travel/0106210380_1_uss-arizona-pearl-harbor-sabotage
I have been to the memorial and openly wept. What amazed me was a great number of (apparently) Japanese tourists who also wept.
Based on my Google searches it appears the Arizona is on active sentry duty which is why no other ships have been blessed with the name.
I stand ready to be corrected by our USN Freepers, but I certainly like the story and the supporting articles in multiple sources.
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