The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Attack on the USS LIBERTY - Part I (6/8/1967) - Sep. 8th, 2003

http://www.logogo.net/liberty.htm ^ | John E. Borne, PhD

[SAMWolf]

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Attack on the USS LIBERTY

On June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, Israeli forces attacked the USS Liberty, a U.S. Navy intelligence-gathering ship off the coast of Gaza, killing 35 men and wounding 171. Israeli apologized and called the attack an accident. The U.S. government accepted the apology and did not openly challenge the explanation For almost three decades the crewmen of the Liberty have waged a campaign to have the attack investigated. Indeed, they claim that not only was the attack was intentional, but also that Johnson recalled the Sixth Fleet rescue flights to avoid a clash between the U.S. and Israel.

About the Liberty

The USS LIBERTY was a freighter built in the Kaiser shipyards of Oregon and launched in May 1945. It sailed the Pacific until 1958 when it was "mothballed" in Puget Sound. In 1964 it was refitted as a technical research ship for the National Security Agency. In the center of the ship below deck was a room containing electrical equipment which could pick up all radiio broadcasts over a wide area. The information from these broadcasts could be relayed back to NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.


USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5)

The ship had no armor and was armed only with four 50-caliber machine guns, two forward and two aft. For protection it relied upon the flag it flew and upon being recognized by any observer as "in a surveillance mode", i.e. it was not a warship and was remaining in international waters. It was easily recognizable as an electronics listening ship because of the large amount of electronic gear visible on deck and superstructure. This gear, including a tall Trescomm tower amidships, gave the ship a silhouette unlike that of any other ship in the world.

The ship had its identification number, Gtr5, painted in l0-foot high letters on the bow. This id. number is prominent and visible in all photos of the ship both before and after the attack. The ship also had its name painted on the stern, and a large flag flew from the forward mast. These facts are important because Israeli spokesmen would later claim that the ship had no flag or other marks of identification.

LIBERTY was listed in JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS as a non-combatant. The ship was 460 feet long, displaced 10,000 tons, and had a top speed of16 knots (18 mph). It had a crew of 290 men.


LIBERTY displaying normal streaming colors.

LIBERTY was one of five LIBERTY-type ships deployed worldwide. One of its sister ships, PUEBLO, would be captured off the coast of North Korea eight months after the attack on LIBERTY. (The reader can see at once that the NSA policy was a faulty and ill-considered one. These NSA communications ships, without armor or serious armament, but loaded with valuable and confidential equipment and records, were sent without escort into dangerous waters.

In May 1967 LIBERTY was stationed off the Ivory Coast in west Africa. As the Mideast crisis developed, NSA sent orders to the ship to proceed to Rota, Spain, to take on board six NSA technical specialists (speakers of Russian and Arabic). The ship was then to proceed to a specifically assigned station 13 miles off the Gaza coast.

The US has never made any official statement concerning the ship's mission, but the crewmen generally agree with the following scenario. There was in 1967 a dispute between the US and Egypt concerning the status of several Soviet "Bear" bombers based near Alexandria. The US suspected that Soviet pilots still manned these planes. Since the ship's assligned station enabled it to hear radio traffic in northern Egypt, and the NSA men brought on board understood Arabic and Russian, it made sense to assume that the ship's mission centered around these bombers. (The ship had no official Hebrew speaking technicians, but some of the crewmen understood Hebrew and later were able to understand overheard Israeli radio talks).

As the ship was passing south of Sicily, the Six Day War began. Captain McGonagle, commander of LIBERTY, was worried about the danger to his ship, and asked Admiral William Martin, commander of the US Sixth Fleet stationed off Crete, to provide LIBERTY with a destroyer escort. Martin refused, stating that "LIBERTY is a clearly marked ship in international waters, not a participant in the conflict and not a likely subject for attack by anyone". He promised that in the unlikely event of an attack, jet fighters from the Sixth Fleet would be overhead "in ten minutes".


USS Liberty turns while under attack by Israeli motor torpedo boats, off the Sinai Peninsula, 8 June 1967.
Note fire-damaged structure at left, with what appears to be a .50 caliber machine gun.

Unknown to both McGonagle and Martin, NSA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff had begun to reconsider LIBERTY's mission. Several messages went from NSA to the ship on June 7, instructing LIBERTY to withdraw 25 miles or more from the Gaza coast, or to leave the area altogether. All messages were misrouted and none reached the ship.

On board the ship, Lt. James Ennes at 0700 assumed his post as Officer of the Day. He was told by Ensign John Scott that the ship had passed Port Said during the night, and the sky was filled with smoke and fire. He was also told that at 0600 an Israeli "flying boxcar" had observed the ship. This was the first of Israeli surveillance flights which would continue through the morning. How many and how close these flights were would later become a major source of controversy.

The Questions

On June 8, 1967, the American naval intelligence-gathering ship USS LIBERTY was attacked by Israeli air and naval forces off the coast of Gaza. Thirty-four crewmen were killed and 171 wounded. Beyond these two statements almost everything concerning this event is a matter of controversy. Furthermore, there are many unanswered questions, and mysterious circumstances not yet fully explained.




The crewmen of the ship believe that the attack was deliberate, and that the US and Israeli Governments cooperated to hide this fact, with false and rigged investigations and with untrue official accounts.

The crewmen were ordered to keep silent on the matter, and as military men they had to obey. Fourteen years later, retired and no longer silenced, many of them formed the LIBERTY Veterans Association to wage a campaign to tell their version of events, a dissenting history opposed to the official history.

The men have waged a remarkable campaign for attention and have gained the backing of important public figures and journalists. Their views are largely ignored by officials of the United States Government. The Israeli Government and its supporters have denounced the dissenting history produced by the LIBERTY crewmen as false and untruthful.

Some of the questions on this subject which have not been answered to the satisfaction of all parties, and other questions concerning plain information (i.e., not partisan) still need to be more fully discussed. Among these questions are:

Before the Attack

• What was the mission of the ship?
  
• Why was the marker identifying the ship removed from the table in the Israeli war room?
  
• How often did Israeli planes observe LIBERTY on the morning of June 8?
  
• How close were these planes? Did they identify the ship as American?
  
• Did the Israelis send a messenger to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv seeking information about the ship? If so, what answer did they receive?
  
• Admiral Erell, commander of the Israeli Navy, sent a message to the Israeli MTBs ordering them not to attack the ship. Why was this order ignored?

The Attack

• Did the Israeli planes orbit the ship looking for a flag, or did they attack directly? How long did the air attack last?
  
• According to Dwight Porter, US ambassador to Lebanon at this time, some Israeli planes recognized LIBERTY as an American ship and were reluctant to attack, but were ordered to do so. What is the evidence for this?
  
• Did the flag on the ship droop or stand out in the wind? Could the flag be seen by Israeli pilots?
  
• Did the Israelis jam the ship's radios?
  
• What signals passed between the MTBs and LIBERTY as the MTBs approached the ship? How long did the MTB attack last? Did the MTBs sink life rafts which had been put over the side of the ship?
  
• When did the MTBs offer help to the ship? Why was there a long interval between Israeli recognition that LIBERTY was an American ship and the time when Israel official notified the US that it had made the attack?
  
• Two Israeli helicopters hovered near the ship late in the attack,without contacting the ship. The crewmen claim these were full of armed men. What is the evidence?

Aftermath of the Attack

• When were flights of rescue planes launched from the Sixth Fleet, and when were they recalled? Why was the second flight of planes told to wait 90 minutes before launching?
  
• Dave Lewis, executive officer of the LIBERTY, states that ADM. Geis of the Sixth Fleet told him that LBJ and Secretary McNamara personally ordered the recall of the rescue flights to avoid a conflict with Israel. What is the evidence?
  
• What did Gen. Baraket, chief of Israeli Air Force Intelligence, mean when he stated that LIBERTY was attacked "because it was interfering with our plans"?
  
• Why have some partisans of Israel claimed that the attack on LIBERTY was intentional and justified because the ship was aiding the Arab states in the Six Day War? What is the evidence?
  
• Why did ADM. Kidd, commanding the Naval Court, threaten the LIBERTY crewmen and warn them that they must NEVER talk about the attack?
  
• Why was there no discussion in the Naval Court, or in any other forum, about the failure of the Sixth Fleet to aid LIBERTY? Why does this remain the only attack on a US naval vessel in peacetime not to have a full scale Congressional investigation?
  
• What was the role of the American press in discussing (or not discussing) this issue?

Those who claim that the attack was accidental point to ten US and three Israeli investigations which, they claim, all concluded that the attack was an accident. How valid is this claim? What criticisms can be made of these inquiries? Answers to these questions can clarify the facts about this important event.

Two Accounts


Damage to the ship's bridge area, received in attacks by Israeli forces off the Sinai Peninsula on 8 June 1967. View looks aft and to port, from just in front of the superstructure. Note rocket entrance and exit holes, and ruined signal lamp in lower left.

It is impossible to write a "factual" account of the attack on the LIBERTY by Israeli forces. From the first hour of the event the story of what happened is in dispute between the crewmen and the Israelis. The most basic facts are challenged. For this reason I will frequently, in presenting an account of events, follow this with an opposing account and make clear that these contradictory claims are not reconciled. There has been a third of a century of discussion over the LIBERTY incident without resolution of the disputes.

There are two large overall questions involved here. First, was the Israeli attack deliberate or accidental? Secondly, did the LBJ administration recall the rescue flights sent toward the ship to avoid a clash between US and Israeli forces?

The first question, as to whether the attack was accidental or intentional, revolves around testimony from both sides concerning the events of June 8, 1967, and consideration of this question begins with an argument over the Israeli aerial surveillance of THE LIBERTY.




The crewmen claim that there were eight surveillance's of the ship, from 0600 to 1245. Most observations were by Noratlas "flying boxcars", a few by Mirage III fighter- bombers. Some of the flights stayed at a distance of a mile or more, but most came close to the ship and a few passed over the ship at low levels. The flight at 1000 by a Mirage III was of particular importance, for Hebrew- speaking radio operators on the ship heard the plane reporting back to its base that the ship was a US naval ship and in fact was the USS LIBERTY. By late morning the crew had become accustomed to these flights and regarded them as friendly surveillance, with the crew waving to the pilots who waved back.

ISRAELI ACCOUNT: While the crewmen are exact and specific in their statements about the aerial surveillance, the Israelis relate various stories without reconciling them. The Israelis describe overflights ranging in number from none to seven, with three as the average (compared to the crewmen¹s claim of eight). They claim that many of the flights which the crew believed were surveillance were merely the traffic of planes back and forth from Israel to Egypt, and that some of these planes barely noticed the ship. Furthermore, Israeli spokesmen claim that it was impossible for the crewmen to see the pilots of the ships and to see them wave. The Israelis do say, however, that the 1000 flight which was so important to the crewmen did indeed observe and identify the ship. The 0600 sighting had resulted in a marker on the table classifying the ship as "unknown". The 1000 sighting now changed this marker to "neutral".



By 1130 the ship had reached its assigned spot and then turned westward, slowing its speed to 5 knots. On the shore in El Arish at 1145 there was a huge explosion and a thick cloud of black smoke spread along the beach. It was impossible for the crew to tell what this might mean. In fact, the explosion had been caused by Egyptian sappers blowing up ammunition dumps left by the Egyptian army in its retreat. The Israeli army in El Arish notified HQ in Tel Aviv that the shore was being bombarded, and that this might be connected to the ship (LIBERTY) which they saw 14 miles offshore, slowly heading westward.

Meanwhile, other events were occurring which led the Israelis to believe, in their account, that LIBERTY was an enemy ship. In Ashdod at 1100 the marker signifying LIBERTY as a neutral ship was removed from the table by CMDR Lunz, in charge. He stated later that the marker referred to the ship at 0600, but now five hours later the ship would not be there and so the marker was removed. Lunz did not notify the incoming shift at 1100 of this, so when reports came in about a ship after 1100 the ship would be "rediscovered", this time as a possible enemy. Lunz claimed later that his actions were routine and according to procedure.

LIBERTY ACCOUNT: The crewmen claim that Lunz's claim that there were no reports of the ship after 0600 is false. In particular, they point to the 1000 report from an Israeli plane back to base which identified the LIBERTY.


Points out damage inflicted on the ship's superstructure when Israeli forces attacked the Liberty off the Sinai Peninsula on 8 June 1967.
The photograph was taken on 16 June, two days after Liberty arrived at Valletta, Malta, for repairs.

Unknown to the crewmen, their ship was now the center of Israeli attention. In order to investigate the possible bombardment of the coast, three motor torpedo boats were assigned to investigate the situation.

[SAMWolf]

Israeli Version

The events surrounding the attack on THE LIBERTY took place in four hours, roughly from 1200 to 1600 LIBERTY time. (At 1205 three MTBs were dispatched from their base near Tel Aviv to investigate the reported naval bombardment of the coast near El Arish. At 1610 the Israelis notified CMDR Castle, the US naval attaché in Tel Aviv, that they had accidentally attacked THE LIBERTY.) The actions in these four hours took place so quickly, and are still so much in dispute, that they need to be examined in detail.

ISRAELI ACCOUNT OF THE ATTACK


Arrives at Valletta, Malta, for repair of damages received when she was attacked by Israeli forces off the Sinai Peninsula on 8 June 1967. Photo is dated 16 June. However, she arrived at Malta on 14 June. Note torpedo hole in her side, forward of the superstructure and numerous rocket and gunfire impacts on the hull and superstructure.

MTB Pursuit of the LIBERTY

1. The MTBs moved south at 30 knots, and at 1341 they made their first radar contact with LIBERTY. (The LIBERTY crewmen, who dispute every point of the Israeli account, say that such contact was impossible at this time. However, in this case and in all other cases of such dispute, I will reserve specific comment and criticism until later).
   
2. The MTB radar gave an incorrect reading of Liberty's speed; it said that the ship was moving at 30 knots, while in reality the ship was moving at 5 knots. The Israelis checked this reading on the radar on a second MTB, and this time they obtained a reading of 28 knots. Cristol discusses these false readings, and attributes them to inadequate equipment and to the inherent difficulty of reading speed of a target from a pursuing MTB.
   
3. Since the top speed of the MTBs was 30 knots, they could not catch the ship and therefore requested aid from the Israeli Air Force. Planes were diverted from other missions to attack the ship.
   
4. A short time later, when the MTBs came in sight of the ship, the MTB commanders identified it as El Qesir, an old and decrepit Egyptian horse transport.

Air Attack on LIBERTY

1. The Israeli planes orbited the ship looking for a flag or other marks of identification. They could find no flag or such marks, according to most Israeli reports. A few Israeli reports say that there was a small flag, difficult to see, or a flag which was raised only near the end of the attack. Cristol says that the attacking pilots could not see a flag due to the speed of the planes and the distance from the ship. Hirsh and Goodman say that the point is "moot", i.e. it does not matter whether or not there was a flag, for the point is that the Israeli pilots THOUGHT there was no flag.(This issue of "no flag" is a major and basic one to the crewmen, the most fundamental point in their account, and they discuss this at length. The LIBERTY men also claim that there are records of Israeli pilots reporting back to base that the ship has an American flag, and being ordered to attack anyway.)
   
2. LIBERTY men say that the Israelis jammed the ship's radios. The Israelis neither deny nor confirm this claim; they do not discuss it.
   
3. The Israelis claim that the air attack ended at 1412, after only 12 minutes of assault. It ended because one of the pilots saw a number on the bow of the ship and therefore knew that the ship was not Egyptian. (Arabic ships do not have numbers near their bows). However, this information was not passed on inside the Israeli system of communications to prevent the MTB attack which followed closely upon the air attack.

MTB Attack on LIBERTY


In his cabin on board the ship, 11 June 1967.
Note damage received when Israeli forces attacked the Liberty off the Sinai Peninsula on 8 June.

1. The MTBs approached the ship after the planes left. (How long the interval was between attacks is, like nearly everything, a matter of dispute).
   
2. Israeli claims vary in describing the approach of the MTBs to the ship. In a few cases, the Israelis claim that the ship refused to respond to demands for identification and sent no signals. In most cases, Israelis claim that the ship responded with the signal "AA". The Israelis claim that this means "identify yourself first". LIBERTY signal men deny that they sent "AA" and also that "AA" means "identify yourself". However, the "AA" signal, to the Israelis, was proof that the ship was Egyptian, for an Egyptian destroyer in the 1956 war had sent this same signal when facing Israeli demands for identification. In fact, the destroyer sent that same message to the Israeli officer who was now in command of the MTB squadron. This coincidence was, in Israeli accounts, final and dramatic proof that the ship was Egyptian.
   
3. Crewmen claim that they put three life rafts over the side of the ship in response to the captain's order to prepare to abandon ship. They say that the Israelis sank two rafts and took the third under tow. They also say that Israeli gunfire then destroyed remaining lifeboats on deck. The Israelis do not discuss this issue.
   
4. Israelis claim that the attack ended about 1430, shortly after the torpedo struck the ship. Crewmen dispute this and claim that the attack from the MTBs continued until 1515.

[SAMWolf]

Contradictions

Above I described briefly the Israeli attack on USS LIBERTY. In this article I will outline some of the problems and contradictions in the Israeli accounts.


Insignia of USS Liberty (AGTR-5)

1. Problems with the radar sighting. In the Yerushalmi hearing, the Israelis tried to account for the fact that the MTB radar had showed the ship moving at 30 knots, but a short time afterward they identified the ship as the Egyptian El Quesir, which has a top speed of 15 knots. They speculated that "perhaps" the ship was part of a larger Egyptian naval squadron off El Arish which included a fast ship (seen on the MTB radar screen) and the slower El Quesir. By 1400 the faster ship had fled, leaving El Quesir lagging behind. The problem with this theory is that the Israeli planes arrived on the scene only 19 minutes after the radar sighting, and the alleged fast ship, even if moving at 30 knots, would have been only 10 miles away and visible to both Americans and Israelis. No one saw this phantom ship.
   
2. Air attack on the ship. The attack of the Israeli planes at 1400 poses the basic and fundamental question of this dispute. The Israelis insist in all accounts that the ship had no flag. They also claim that the orbited the ship repeatedly looking for a flag, but could find none and could find no other mark of identification.
   
   The testimony of the crew contradicts these Israeli claims absolutely. Crewmen insist that there was a flag, flying in the wind, and that the Israeli planes attacked straight on without orbiting. They also point out that photos of the ship taken before and after the attack show the identifying number plainly. Also, it is preposterous to claim that the ship would be moving in this area near a war and would show no flag. Cristol argues that the flag hung limp for lack of wind, and his work includes a negative photo of the ship taken during the attack from a nose cone camera. This photo shows a plume of smoke going straight up, and so Cristol argues that there was no wind. However, other Israeli accounts, and Cristol himself on another page, state that smoke from fires on the ship covered the ship above the hull and billowed out behind. This would indicate that there was ample wind to make the flag stand out.
   
3. Testimony of Dwight Porter. Dwight Porter was US ambassador to Lebanon in June 1967. He states that on June 8 CIA men showed him radio transcripts, translated into English, which recorded talk between an Israeli pilot and his home base. The pilot protests that the ship he is attacking is American; the home base orders him to attack anyway. Porter never saw the transcripts again, but stands by his story.
   
4. How long did the air attack last? The Israelis claim 12 minutes, the crewmen claim 25 minutes.
   
5. Dispute over the signals, discussed in Section Four. The Israelis claim that the ship signaled "AA"; the LIBERTY signalmen say that they sent only "USS LIBERTY, US Navy ship". Again there is an absolute contradiction between the testimony of the Israelis and that of the crewmen.
   
6. LIBERTY radiomen claim that the ship's radios were jammed. Israelis do not discuss this.
   
7. Crewmen claim that Israelis sank the ship's liferafts, as mentioned in Section Four. Israelis do not discuss this.
   
8. Why did the MTB attack end? Israelis provide varying and vague answers on this; they "looked the ship over more carefully" or claim that finally the ship ran up a flag. Crewmen believe that it ended because the Sixth Fleet radioed to the LIBERTY, in clear and uncoded language, that planes were coming to the rescue.
   
9. When did the MTB attack end? Most Israeli accounts say at about 1440 (although others claim later times). The crewmen say it was 1515. The time when the attack ended, and the Israelis realized that the ship was American, presents another problem for the Israelis. Israel did not notify the US that it had attacked the ship until 1610. This means that there was an unexplained delay of either 90 minutes or an hour in this notification. Why the delay?
   
10. There is another Israeli eyewitness account, by Micha Limor, an officer on one of the MTBs. His story contradicts all accounts so far. Limor claims, first, that the MTB radar screen showed LIBERTY moving at 10 knots, not 30 as otherwise reported. (The ship was actually moving at 5 knots.) Limor describes a silent "ghost ship" with no one on deck, not responding to signals or even to gunfire. Other accounts tell of the "AA" signal from the ship, but here there is no signal at all. Other stories tell of men on deck firing at the MTBs, but Limor says that there were no men on deck. There was no response from the ship until after it was hit by a torpedo, and then the ship at last raised a flag.

There are many contradictions and unexplained issues in Israeli accounts. In most instances, as in the case of Limor's testimony, the Israelis simply ignore the problems.

Additional Sources:

www.history.navy.mil
ussliberty.org
thewebfairy.com
www.usswitek.org

[SAMWolf]

'I have never believed that the attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. That is ridiculous. I have flown over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, thousands of hours, searching for ships and identifying all types of ships at sea. The Liberty was the ugliest, strangest looking ship in the U.S. Navy. As a communications intelligence ship, it was sprouting every kind of antenna. It looked like a lobster with all those projections moving every which way. '

Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations

'I have to conclude that it was Israel’s intent to sink the Liberty and leave as few survivors as possible. Israel knew perfectly well that the ship was American'

Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations

[SAMWolf]

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Cincinnati (C-7)

Cincinnati class protected cruiser
Displacement: 3,183 t.
Length: 305’9”
Beam: 42’
Draft: 18’
Speed: 19 k.
Complement: 312
Armament: 1 6”; 10 5”; 8 6-pdrs.; 2 1-pdrs.; 4 18” torpedo tubes

The USS CINCINNATI (C-7) was launched 10 November 1892 by New York Navy Yard; sponsored by Miss S. Mosby; and commissioned 16 June 1894, Captain H. E. Glass in command.

CINCINNATI's first cruise, along the east coast, and then in the Caribbean, found her enforcing neutrality laws at Tampa and Key West during the Cuban Revolution from September 1895 to January 1896. Between September 1896 and July 1897, she served in the eastern Mediterranean, returning to the South Atlantic Station in September 1897. In April 1898, opening month of the Spanish-American War, CINCINNATI joined the blockade off Havana, Cuba, and bombarded Matanzas. The next month, she scouted throughout the West Indies searching for the Spanish fleet known to be approaching Cuba.

At the close of May 1898, CINCINNATI came north for repairs, returning to the Caribbean for occupation duty in August. She convoyed troops from Guantanamo Bay to Puerto Rico, patrolled off San Juan, made a reconnaissance of Culebra Island, and escorted the captured Spanish flagship INFANTA MARIA TERESA until the prize of war sank en route to Norfolk from Cuba. After joining in salvage operations at Santiago in November, she sailed north, and from 14 February 1899 to 2 December 1901 was out of commission at New York Navy Yard for extensive repairs.

Between May 1902 and January 1903, CINCINNATI protected American citizens and property in the Caribbean during political disturbances at Haiti, Santo Domingo and Panama, and brought relief supplies to Martinique after the devastating eruption of Mount Pelee. From January through May 1903, the cruiser sailed in the Mediterranean, then passed through the Suez Canal for 4 years of duty on the Asiatic Station, based in the Philippines. Target practice, maneuvers, and goodwill cruises took her to many ports in China, Japan, and the Pacific islands, and from time to time she patrolled off Korea. She returned to Mare Island Navy Yard 10 September 1907, and there was decommissioned 12 October 1907.

Recommissioned in reserve 8 March 1911, CINCINNATI was in full commission from 11 October 1911, and two months later returned to the Asiatic Station for a 6-year tour of duty similar to her earlier employment there. She returned to San Diego 16 December 1917, and while bound for the east coast, took part in humanitarian relief at San Jose, Guatemala, after severe earthquakes. She arrived in Hampton Roads 16 January 1918.

As flagship of the American Patrol Detachment Atlantic Fleet from 1 February 1918 to 28 March 1919, CINCINNATI patrolled the Gulf of Mexico from Key West, protecting the movement of vital oil supplies. She was decommissioned at New Orleans 20 April 1919, and sold for scrap 4 August 1921.

[snippy_about_it]

.......FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!

.......Good Monday Morning Everyone!


If you would like added or removed from our ping list let me know.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole. How are things going for you?:-D

[jriemer]

Free Republic's 9-11 100 Hours of Remembrance
Click on the Link Above

[GailA]

Good morning.

[snippy_about_it]

Morning EGC. Cool morning this morning.

Time to catch up on work now that the Foxhole's vacation is over.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning jriemer and thank you for the link to your wonderful 9/11 Remembrance thread.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Gail. That's a beautiful picture this morning.

[manna]

Present!

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning manna!

[jriemer]

Morning! We're glad to continue providing this service. 8^)

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on September 08:
1157 Richard I [Richard the Lion Hearted], King of England (1189-99)
1474 Ludovico Ariosto Italy, poet (Orlando Furioso)
1588 Marin Mersenne France, mathematician/musician/philospher (Cartesian)
1828 - Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), hero of Little Round Top at Gettysburg
1841 Antonin Dvorak Nelahozeves, Czech, composer (New World Symphony)
1873 David O McKay Huntsville, Utah, 9th pres of Mormon church
1873 Max Reinhardt Austria, theatrical director (Oedipus Rex)
1889 Robert A Taft (Sen-R-Ohio, Taft-Hartley Act)
1897 Jimmie Rodgers Mendoza Miss, country singer/singing brakeman
1898 Queenie Smith NYC, actress/dancer (Funny Side)
19-- Byron Morrow Chicago Ill, actor (New Breed, Executive Suite)
19-- Michael Lardie rock guitarist (Great White-Twice Shy)
19-- Rob Grad rocker (Kik Tracee-Hot Wire)
1900 Claude D Pepper (Rep-D-Fla), old people's advocate
1907 Gavin Muir Chic Ill, actor (Hollister-Betty Hutton Show)
1907 Leon Askin Vienna Austria, actor (Pierre-Charlie Farrell Show)
1910 Jean-Louis Barrault France, actor (Les Enfants du Paradis)
1912 Leo Cherne NYC, economist/commentator (All Star News)
1914 Hillary Brooke Abbott & Costello's neighbor (Hillary)
1921 Harry Secombe Wales, actor (Down Among the "Z" Men)
1922 Lyndon LaRouche American presidental candidate (1980)
1922 Sid Caesar Yonkers NY, comedian (Your Show of Shows)
1924 Wendell Ford (Sen-D-Ky)
1925 Denise Darcel Paris France, actress (Dangerous When Wet)
1925 Peter Sellers England, actor (not now, Kato, Bobo, Pink Panther)
1929 Christoph von Dohn nyi Berlin Germany, conductor/pianist
1929 Severn Darden actor (Popesco-Mary Hartman)
1930 Jeanette Altwegg England, figure skater (Olympic-gold-1952)
1932 Patsy Cline Va, country singer (Walkin' After Midnight)
1934 Peter Maxwell Davies Manchester England, composer (Prolation)
1937 Virna Lisi Italy, actress (Assault on a Queen, Bluebeard)
1938 Sam Nunn (Sen-D-Ga)
1940 Willie Tyler Red Level Ala, ventriloquist (Lester)
1941 Alan Feinstein NYC, actor (Max-Berrengers, Family Tree)
1945 Rogie Vachon Qu‚bec, NHL goalie (Canadiens, Kings, Vezina-1968)
1947 Ann Beattie Wash DC, short story writer (New Yorker Magazine)
1951 Mark McCumber golfer
1951 Tom Gullikson Wisc, tennis player (US mixed Doubles 1984)
1954 Clayton Norcross actor (Bold & Beautiful, Colbys, Santa Barbara)
1956 Maurice Cheeks NBA guard (NY Knicks, Phila '76ers)
1957 Heather Thomas Greenwich Ct, actress (Jody-Fall Guy, Coed Fever)
1958 David Lewis guitarist (Atlantic Starr-Touch a 4 Leaf Clover)
1961 Franny Michel Bkln NY, actress (Patricia-Apple's Way)
1971 Cristy Thom Los Angeles Ca, playmate (Feb, 1991)
1973 Jason Downs actor

---

Deaths which occurred on September 08:
0394 Arbogast, French general, commits suicide
0701 Sergius I, Syrian/Italian Pope (687-701), dies
1100 Clement III 1st antipope (1084-1100), dies (birth date unknown)
1654 Peter Claver, Spanish saint (baptized 300,000 slaves), dies
1888 Annie Chapman, second victim of London serial killer "Jack the Ripper."
1935 Huey P Long (Sen-La) assassinated at Baton Rouge Capitol building
1951 Jurgen Stroop, Nazi exterminator of Warsaw Ghetto, hanged on site of the ghetto
1965 Dorothy Danridge actress, dies at 41 in Hollywood
1969 Bud Collyer TV emcee (Beat the Clock, To Tell the Truth), dies at 61
1979 Jean Seberg actress, dies at 40
1981 Roy Wilkins longtime executive director of NAACP, dies at 80
1991 Alex North music composer (Spartacus), dies at 80 of cancer

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1965 GOODWIN CHARLES B. HASKELL TX.
1965 RUDOLPH ROBERT D. ENCINO CA.
[IMPACT OBS NO PARA BEEP, REMAINS RETURNED 1988]
1968 PRIDEMORE DALLAS R. EAST LIVERPOOL OH.
1972 GERSTEL DONALD A. MATTESON IL.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
1380 Russians defeat Tatars at Kulikovo, beginning decline of Tatars
1504 Michelangelo's 13-foot marble statue of David is unveiled in Florence, Italy.
1522 Spanish navigator Juan de Elcano returns to Spain, completes 1st circumnavigation of globe, expedition begins under Ferdinand Magellan
1529 The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman re-enters Buda and establishes John Zapolyai as the puppet king of Hungary.
1553 City of Lichfield, England established
1565 1st permanent settlement in US forms (St Augustine, Florida)
1565 Turkish siege of Malta broken by Maltese & Knights of St John
1636 - First college founded in America, Harvard College, originally called Cambridge College(Named for Reverend John Harvard)
1664 Dutch surrender New Amsterdam (NY) to 300 English soldiers
1771 Mission San Gabriel Archangel forms in California
1796 Battle of Bassano-French beat Austrians
1858 Lincoln makes a speech about when you can fool people
1860 Loss of steamer, "Lady Elgin"
1863 47 Texas volunteers repel Federal invasion force at Sabine Pass, TX
1863 Federal troops reconquer the Cumberland Gap, Tennessee
1864 George McClellan accepts nomination as Democratic candidate for President
1868 NY Athletic Club formed
1883 Northern Pacific RR's last spike driven at Independence Creek, Mont
1883 NY Giants score 13 runs in an inning against the Phillies
1892 1st appearance of "The Pledge of Allegiance" (Youth's Companion)
1900 6,000 killed when a hurricane & tidal wave destroys Galveston, Texas, most deadly in US history
1903 Between 30,000 and 50,000 Bulgarian men, women and children are massacred in Monastir by Turkish troops seeking to check a threatened Macedonian uprising.
1905 Pitts Pirates strand NL record 18 men on base & lose to Reds 8-3
1920 US Air Mail service begins (NYC to SF)
1921 1st Miss America crowned (Margaret Gorman of Washington DC)
1924 Alexandra Kollontai of Russia becomes 1st woman ambassador
1930 Richard Drew creates Scotch tape
1930 1st appearance of the comic strip "Blondie"
1930 NYC public schools begin teaching Hebrew
1934 134 die in a fire aboard the liner Morro Castle off NJ
1937 Yankees trail 6-1, come up with 8 in the 9th, beat Boston 9-6
1939 FDR declares "limited national emergency" due to war in Europe
1939 Yanks beat Red Sox 4-1 in 7, game called because of lightning
1941 Entire Jewish community of Meretsch, Lithuania is exterminated
1943 Italy surrenders to the allies in WW II
1943 NY Giants' pitcher Ace Adams sets record by working in his 62nd game
1944 1st V-2 rocket lands in Britain
1945 US invades Japanese-held Korea
1945 Korea is partitioned by the Soviet Union and the United States.
1946 San Francisco 49ers play 1st AAFC game, lose to NY Yankees 21-7
1951 Japan signs treaty of peace with 48 countries (SF)
1952 Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man & the Sea" published
1954 SE Asia Treaty Org (SEATO) formed to stop communist spread in SE Asia
1954 With a 3-2 count, Phillies Richie Ashburn fouls next 14, then walks
1955 Earliest clinching of an NL pennant (Brooklyn Dodgers)
1956 Harry Belafonte's album "Calypso," goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
1957 Mal Anderson & Althea Gibson win tennis' US Open
1957 Pope Pius XII encyclical On motion pictures, radio, TV
1958 Oman turns over Gwadur (on Bal£chist n coast) to Pakistan
1960 Penguin Books in Britain is charged with obscenity for trying to publish the D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterly's Lover.
1963 Ines Cuervo de Priete, 34, gives birth to quintuplets, all boys
1965 Hurricane Betsy kills 75 in Louisiana & Florida
1965 KC A's Bert Campaneris plays all 9 positions in a game
1966 "Star Trek" premiers on NBC-TV
1966 "That Girl" starring Marlo Thomas premiers on ABC-TV
1967 Surveyor 5 launched; makes soft landing on Moon Sept 10
1967 Uganda abolishes traditional tribal kingdoms, becomes a republic
1971 John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opens in Washington DC
1972 Chic Cub Ferguson Jenkins wins his 20th game for 6th straight year
1972 Jim Ryun (US) & Billy Fordjour (Ghana) collide & fall in qualifying competitions for 1,500m finals, ending Ryan's chances for gold
1973 1st all Australian women's US Open final, (Court beats Goolagong)
1973 Billy Martin named manager of the Texas Rangers
1973 Hank Aaron sets record of most HRs in 1 league (709)
1974 Pres Gerald Ford pardons former Pres R Nixon of all federal crimes
1975 Boston begins court ordered busing of public schools
1977 Interpol sends a resolution concerning video piracy
1977 Jimmy McCullough quits Wings
1978 2nd game of the Boston Massacre; Yanks beat Red Sox 13-2
1983 NASA launches RCA-6
1984 Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 41G mission
1985 "USA Weekend's" 1st issue, appears in 255 newspapers
1985 7 die in a car & train crash in San Jose Calif
1985 Alayson Gibbons sets 24 hr women swim record of 42.05 mi in 25 m pool
1985 Discovery flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
1985 Pete Rose ties Ty Cobb with 4,191 hits
1988 Javier Sotomayer of Cuba high jumps world record 2.43 m (7' 11«")
1990 Ellis Island Historical Site opens on Eliis Island, NYC
1990 Gabriella Sabitini beats Steffi Graff to win the US Open
1991 Buffalo Bill Jim Kelly passes for 6 touchdowns vs Pitts (52-34)
1991 Stefan Edberg wins the US Open

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Andorra : National Day
Guinea-Bissau : Independence Day (1974)
Lichfield, England : Sheriff's Ride Ceremony (1533)
Malta : Commemoration of Regatta Day/Commemoration of 2 Sieges (1565)
Mauritius : Mid Autumn Festival
North Korea : National Day (Established Govt) (1948)
South Korea : Thanksgiving Day
Uganda : Republic Day (1967)
US : National Grandparents' Day (Sunday)
Scotland : Fisherman's Walk Day (Friday)
Fall TV Series Flop Prediction Day
National Boss Day/Employee Exchange Day
National Papaya Month

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Religious Observances
RC-Vatican City : Mary's Nativity, birthday of Blessed Virgin Mary

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Religious History
70 Following a six-month siege, Jerusalem surrendered to the 60,000 troops of Titus' Roman army. Over a million Jewish citizens perished in the siege and, following the city's capture, another 97,000 were sold into slavery.
1565 The parish of St. Augustine, Florida, was founded by Father Don Martin Francisco Lopez de Mendozo Grajales, chaplain to the conquering Spanish forces. It became the first and oldest Roman Catholic parish established in America.
1636 Harvard College (later University) was founded by the Massachusetts Puritans at New Towne. It was the first institution of higher learning established in North America, and was originally founded to train future ministers.
1845 Oxford Movement leader, John Henry Newman, 44, resigned from the Church of England -- convinced that it had severed itself from its ancient episcopal moorings and true apostolic succession -- and became a Roman Catholic.
1928 Pius XI issued the encyclical "Rerum Orientalium," promoting study of the history, doctrine and liturgy of Eastern Orthodoxy. He recommended that priests apply themselves to special studies at the Oriental Institute in Rome, founded in 1917 by Benedict XV.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly; devils fall because of their gravity."

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You might be a weather freak if...
When a severe thunderstorm hits, while everyone else is trying to rush indoors, you rush outdoors.

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Murphys Law of the day...(Manly's Maxim)
Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.

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Cliff Clavin says, it's a little known fact that...
England's Stonehenge is 1500 years older than Rome's Colosseum.

[bonehead4freedom]

Excellent post Sam! I read a book on this about 10 years ago can't remember the author but he was an officer on the ship.The way it played out in the book there was no doubt that Isreal knew it was an American intelligence ship, that's why it was attacked so we could'nt see what was going on. Remember the six day war was started by pre-emptive attack by Isreal they didn't want anyone to know what they were up too.Got to hit the job but great post as always Sam!

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[bandleader]

This incident has(to my knowledge)yet to be sufficiently explained by The Israelis!

[Prof Engineer]

ping