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Good info, but I do wish we had given some token resistance, even had it resulted in additional casualties. The total lack of return fire made this the most embarassing defeat in U.S. Navy history.

There was pretty much nothing to return fire with. The Pueblo was a converted cargo ship. Its two .50 caliber guns were covered with frozen tarps and were not armored, and the ammunition was stored below. Anyone who would have tried to man the guns would have been blown away by the Koreans. The ship did the only thing it could do, which was stall for time by heading further out to sea while the sensitive material was burned, shredded, and dumped overboard. Perhaps it would make you feel better if the crew had commited mass suicide rather than embarass the U.S. Navy, but that still wouldn't have saved the ship.

If the mission was as it looked on the surface then the ops can be faulted for not destroying the equipment. If Pueblo was like other such units, at least like the RC135s in the AF, there were preplaced thermite charges that would have reduced the equipment to slag and cinders quickly if deployed.The failure to do that gave rise to suspicions that Pueblo was meant to be captured- see #31.

I forget which books I've read on the Pueblo, but I do remember they didn't change my mind about making a show of resistance. Ritual and face saving is important in military matters, the ship could not resist effectively but it could make a statement and go with some honor. I would be surprised if most American sailors would not prefer to have some shred of dignity to cling to in this incident, the captain shamed his crew, his navy, and his country.